A Russian missile strike on the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk on the night of August 24, 2024, resulted in the death of Ryan Evans, a member of the Reuters team reporting on the war in Ukraine. The attack also left six others injured, including two Reuters journalists and two local female residents, as confirmed by Ukraine’s National Police.
The strike occurred at approximately 10:35 p.m., according to Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office. Evans, who was 38 years old, had been working with Reuters since 2022, providing safety advice to journalists operating in conflict zones such as Ukraine, Israel, and during the Paris Olympics. His death marks a significant loss for Reuters and the global journalism community.
Reuters reported that two of its journalists who were injured in the attack are currently receiving treatment in a hospital. One of them sustained serious injuries. The news agency is actively seeking more information about the circumstances surrounding the attack and is working closely with authorities in Kramatorsk to support its affected staff and their families.
In a statement released after the incident, Reuters disclosed that a six-person team had been staying at the Hotel Sapphire when it was struck by what appears to have been a missile. The specific missile used in the attack was later identified by Ukraine’s State Emergency Service as an Iskander-M ballistic missile. Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin had earlier stated that among the injured were journalists from Ukraine, the United States, and Great Britain.
Kramatorsk, a city often used as a base by journalists covering the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, has been the target of regular Russian attacks. The city is strategically important due to its proximity to the front lines. On June 2023, a Russian strike on a popular restaurant in Kramatorsk’s city center killed 13 people and injured dozens more. The restaurant was frequented by volunteers, journalists, and soldiers. Among the casualties was the renowned Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, who was seriously injured in the attack and later succumbed to her injuries.
Amelina’s contributions to Ukrainian literature were widely recognized, with her works translated into multiple languages, including English, Polish, Italian, Spanish, German, Croatian, Dutch, Czech, and Hungarian. She also founded the Niu-York Literature Festival in 2021, held in the front-line town of Niu-York in Donetsk Oblast. The festival was postponed in 2022 due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The strike on the Hotel Sapphire serves as a grim reminder of the dangers faced by both local residents and international journalists in Ukraine.
