Truth Hounds points to the trend of Russian shelling of hotels housing journalists and volunteers

On the night of March 5, 2025, Russian forces struck Kryvyi Rih with a ballistic missile. The attack damaged the “Tsentralnyi” Hotel, where, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, volunteers from a humanitarian organization, including citizens of Ukraine, the United States, and the United Kingdom, had recently checked in. The shelling resulted in the deaths of five people and injuries to 32 others, as reported by the public organization Truth Hounds on their Facebook page.

Photo: State Emergency Service of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

The organization notes that this is the second time this hotel has been damaged as a result of an attack by Russian forces. On October 28 of last year, it was partially destroyed by a ballistic missile strike.

In addition to damage to the facade, the restaurant hall was destroyed, solar panel arrays were shattered, and a flower shop, a coffee shop, and a conference hall on the hotel grounds were ruined.

Truth Hounds experts have observed a trend of attacks on hotels where journalists, representatives of international organizations, and volunteers stay.

“We began to investigate this pattern, and in November 2024, a Truth Hounds field team documented, among other things, the consequences of the attack on the ‘Tsentralnyi’ Hotel,” the human rights defenders say.

According to a hotel employee’s testimony: “Humanitarian organizations stayed with us. Journalists and UN staff also stayed here. Mostly, people who came on business trips stayed at the hotel. For example, DTEK employees stayed with us. There are no targets near the hotel, not even in the vicinity, not even approximately… There are no military objects“.

Truth Hounds added that they and Reporters Without Borders are preparing a major study on targeted attacks on hotels, civilian objects protected by international humanitarian law.

Earlier, Truth Hounds reported that Ukrainian human rights defenders previously submitted a submission to the International Criminal Court with ideas to improve policies on crimes against the environment, which would help to more effectively hold those responsible for environmental destruction accountable.