Reuters journalist missing after hotel in Ukraine hit in Russian attack

A Reuters team member is missing and two others were injured after Russian forces struck a hotel in eastern Ukraine, the news agency said Sunday.

The news agency said a six-person crew of journalists covering the war in Ukraine was at Hotel Sapphire in the city of Kramatorsk in the eastern Donetsk region when it was hit “by an apparent missile strike” on Saturday.

One was missing – with local officials saying they were trapped under the rubble – while two others were hospitalized. The news agency said the other team members were accounted for.

“We are urgently seeking more information, working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and supporting our colleagues and their families. We will give an update when we have more information,” it added.

The Associated Press reported that the journalists are said to be from Ukraine, the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Local officials said that the hotel had been struck by an Iskander-M Russian ballistic missile, leaving the reporters with blast injuries, concussions and cuts on the body.

Associated Press reporters at the scene described the former hotel as “rubble,” with excavators still being used to clear debris hours after the attack.

In addition to the hotel, a nearby multistory building was also destroyed, Filashkin said, and rescuers were busy clearing the debris at the site.

Elsewhere, five people died in Russia’s border region of Belgorod from Ukrainian shelling while another 12 people – including a 16-year-old girl in critical condition – were wounded in the Russian village of Rakitone, about 23 miles from the Ukrainian border. Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said another man died in a separate drone attack on the border village of Solovevka.

Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region also came under Russian fire, resulting in multiple civilian injuries, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

In Kharkiv’s Chuhuiv region, five people were injured, including a 4-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, after two houses were struck by Russian fire. In Kharkiv city, eight people were wounded when a two-story house was set on fire by a Russian attack.

In Balakliia, a Russian strike destroyed six houses and damaged others. A 55-year-old man was injured. In the Kupiansk area, a house was set on fire by a Russian attack, wounding four women.