Ryan Evans: British security adviser to Reuters killed in Russian airstrike on Kramatorsk hotel

CNN
—

A British security consultant working for Reuters news agency was killed and two journalists were injured when a Russian air strike hit a hotel in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on Saturday evening.

Reuters had a six-person crew staying at the Safir Hotel as part of its team covering the war in Ukraine. A spokesman for the agency identified the safety consultant killed as Ryan Evans, a 38-year-old British citizen who was assigned to the reporting team in Ukraine.

Reuters added that two of its journalists were receiving treatment in hospital, one of them suffering from serious injuries.

In a statement released Sunday afternoon, the company said: “We are urgently seeking more information about the attack, including by working with authorities in Kramatorsk, and we are supporting our colleagues and their families. We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryan’s family and loved ones. Ryan helped many of our journalists cover events around the world; he will be deeply missed.”

Evans, a former British soldier, had been with Reuters since 2022, advising its journalists on safety around the world including in Ukraine, Israel and at the Paris Olympics, the news agency said.

Three other colleagues sustained minor injuries, Reuters added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed in his daily address on Sunday that British and American citizens were in the Kramatorsk hotel, adding: “I offer my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims. This is a daily, ongoing Russian terror, because Russia has the capacity to continue.”

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are aware of reports of a British national missing in Ukraine and are seeking further information from local authorities.”

The US State Department confirmed that an American citizen was among the injured, but did not identify the person.

The head of the Kramatorsk military administration, Oleksandr Honcharenko, said in an update Sunday afternoon that rescuers had found the body of a man under the rubble. He did not provide further details or identify the body.

The head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Vadim Vilashkin, said the wounded journalists included “citizens of Ukraine, the United States, Latvia and Germany.” He confirmed on Telegram on Sunday morning that the dead man was a British citizen.

A Reuters team captured video on Sunday morning showing the massive damage to the hotel, with footage showing emergency services searching through huge piles of rubble with torches. Inside the hotel, footage showed several rooms destroyed.

The video also showed extensive damage to the hotel’s roof.

Kramatorsk has been a frequent target of Russian shelling since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in February 2022. It remains one of the largest cities under Ukrainian control in the country’s besieged east.

In April 2022, Russian forces carried out a missile attack on the Kramatorsk railway station, which was being used to shelter civilians fleeing the fighting.

More than 50 people, including many children, were killed in this single attack, which Human Rights Watch and the SITU Research Center described as an “apparent war crime.”

This story has been updated.