Reuters journalist missing after strike in Ukraine

The Reuters news agency has said that one of its journalists covering the war in Ukraine is missing after a strike on an hotel in the east of the country.

In a statement, Reuters said its six-person team was staying in Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk – a city under Ukrainian control but not far from the eastern front line – on Saturday night when it was hit “by an apparent missile strike”.

It said two members of the team had been taken to hospital, with a further three accounted for – but was “urgently seeking more information” on the whereabouts of a sixth person.

Ukrainian authorities said it was a Russian missile, but Russia has yet to comment on the strike.

The news agency released footage showing parts of the hotel completely destroyed by the strike, with firefighters attempting to pick through the rubble.

Vadym Filashkin, governor of the Donetsk region where Kramatorsk is located, said in a Telegram post on Sunday morning that emergency responders were on site, adding: “Debris clearance and rescue operations are ongoing.”

He said that several other nearby buildings and homes had been damaged in the strike.

The Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office wrote in a statement that the hotel had likely been hit with a short-range Iskander-M missile.

It added that those who had been hospitalised had suffered a number of different injuries from the blast.

Kramatorsk is only about 20km (12 miles) from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, and has come under regular attacks, with civilians killed, including celebrated Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina.

The Russian military has been making slow but steady advances in the east in recent months, with Ukraine’s recent offensive into Russia seen as an attempt to draw troops away from the eastern front line.