Russia struck hotel in Kramatorsk Donetsk Oblast: Two journalists injured, one trapped under rubble

Russian Armed Forces struck a hotel in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk Oblast overnight on August 25, 2024. Russians injured at least two people and trapped another under the rubble, the Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin reported.

The consequences of the shelling of Kramatorsk on August 25

According to Filashkin, all three victims are journalists, citizens of Ukraine, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

BBC News reported that a safety advisor Ryan Evans was one of six Reuters employees staying at the Hotel Sapphire in the city of Kramatorsk.

In a statement, a Reuters spokesperson said the agency was “devastated” to learn of Evans’s death.

Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans in an undated photo taken in Ukraine

“We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryan’s family and loved ones. Ryan has helped so many of our journalists cover events around the world; we will miss him terribly.”

It added that two other members of the team had been hospitalised by the strike and that one of them was being treated for serious injuries.

The National Police of Ukraine said earlier that the body of a 40-year-old British man was recovered from the rubble of a hotel at 18:35 local time (16:35 BST) on Sunday after a 19-hour search.

Writing on Telegram, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky sent his “condolences to [the] family and friends” of the man killed.

“This is the daily Russian terror that continues,” he said.

Additionally, Russians also damaged a residential building, Filashkin added.

Rescuers are working at the scene of a Russian missile strike on a hotel in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on August 25, 2024

“Authorities, police, and rescuers are working at the scene. Debris removal and rescue operations are ongoing,” he wrote.

The Russian Telegram channel “Dva Mayora” that posts militarist propaganda admitted that the missile strike on Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk (Donetsk oblast) on August 24, when Reuters staff stayed there, had been deliberate.

This was pointed out by journalist and blogger Denys Kazansky, who posted a screenshot from this Telegram channel.

“Dva Mayora” noteв that the media workers had “illegally crossed Russia’s state border,” meaning their arrival in the Donetsk oblast, which is the territory of Ukraine.

“Insolent representatives of the Western world were shown the principle of inevitable punishment,” the propagandists explained.

Kazansky noted that the Telegram channel “Dva Mayora” has over a million subscribers and is the mouthpiece for Russia’s Ministry of Defense.

“As we can see, no one is even trying to pretend that the attack on the Reuters journalists was an accident. On the contrary, they are even proud of ‘destroying a representative of the Western world,'” the journalist said.

He also remarked that it has been clear since 2022 that media workers should not be staying in hotels near the front line.

“There have already been attacks on hotels in Kramatorsk, Kharkiv, Pokrovsk. In these cities, we can only stay in rented apartments,” added Denys Kazansky.

To provide background, on Saturday, August 24, 2024, Russian forces shelled the city center of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, killing five civilians and injuring at least five more.

On the evening of August 21, 2024, Russian forces struck the City of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk Oblast, killing a 65-year-old man.

Three private houses, three residential buildings, three administrative buildings, two production premises, three power lines, a gas pipe and three cars were damaged as well.

Moreover, on the afternoon of August 19, 2024, the Russian military attacked the City of Toretsk and the village of Zarichne in the Donetsk Oblast. According to the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, as a result of the attack, Russians killed four local residents. 

Reports indicate that in that attack, Russians used artillery against the civilian population. A 71-year-old pensioner succumbed to a severe shrapnel wound in the yard of her home.

In addition, the village of Zarichne of Lyman hromadaі came under Russian attack. The ammunition hit the residential area. Three civilians aged between 61 and 72 – a man and a married couple – received fatal injuries on the street.” 

Based on these facts, a pre-trial investigation was started under Part 2 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war).

Filashkin reminded locals that they should evacuate from settlements in Donetsk Oblast due to constant Russian attacks.

To provide context, the UK Defence Intelligence in its review has noted that although top Russian officials claim they are willing to negotiate, Russia has not abandoned its original goals regarding Ukraine. 

The UK Defence Ministry cites Dmitry Rogozin, a former Russian deputy prime minister and illegitimate “senator” for the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, who boasted of having destroyed Ukrainian books, called for all ‘’Ukrainian-ness to be burnt out at the root”, and said that any truce with Ukraine would mean “certain death for our children”.

These comments are the latest in a long line of Ukrainophobic sentiments by senior Russian officials that undermine and threaten Ukrainian identity and culture. There are likely many individuals within the Russian state who retain maximalist objectives for the war, including the destruction of Ukrainian culture, identity, and statehood. This is despite the alleged Russian willingness to negotiate, as repeated by presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on 1 July 2024.”

The review also recalled Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s statement in 2017 that “not many countries have sovereignty”.

Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyy, revealed that since 24 February 2022, Russian missiles and drones have hit 11,879 facilities in Ukraine, with 6,203 being civilian and 5,676 military, Expres Defense reports.

He added that the Russians used 9,590 missiles and 13,997 drones to attack Ukraine, of which 2,429 missiles and 5,972 drones were shot down.

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, at least 219 civilians were killed and 1,018 injured in Ukraine in July 2024, which makes it the deadliest month for civilians since October 2022. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine stated that the high number of casualties in July continues a trend of increasing civilian casualties since March 2024.

The UN pointed out that a large-scale coordinated attack launched by the Russian Armed Forces across Ukraine on July 8, 2024, killed at least 43 civilians, including 5 children, and injured 147, including 7 children, in Kyiv City, Dnipro City, Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) and Kyiv region.

One missile in the 8 July attack also struck a hospital complex in Kyiv city, destroying the toxicology department of the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Hospital and significantly damaging the Center for Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

In June and July, the most intensive offensive military operations by the Russian Armed Forces shifted from the northern Kharkiv region to the Donetsk region, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine noted. As a result, verified civilian casualties in the Donetsk region increased from 125 civilians killed or injured in May to 224 in June and 269 in July 2024.

The vast majority of civilian casualties (90%) and damage to educational and health facilities (86%) continued to occur in Government-controlled territory.

As for now, it is impossible to determine the exact number of all casualties, as Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and the representatives of the ICC have no access to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.