British man killed in missile attack on hotel in Ukraine

A British man has been killed in a suspected Russian missile strike that destroyed a hotel in Ukraine.

- BARNEY DAVIS

Ryan Evans, a safety adviser for the Reuters news agency, was in the Hotel Sapphire in the eastern city of Kramatorsk when it was hit on Saturday night.

Evans, 38, was part of a six-person team from the agency staying at the hotel while covering the war in Ukraine.

Two of the agency’s journalists are in hospital with one seriously injured, Reuters said in a statement.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the hotel had been hit by a Russian Iskander missile in a “deliberate” attack. The Russian Defence Ministry has not responded to a request for comment.

Evans, a former British soldier, had been working with Reuters since 2022 and advised its journalists on safety around the world including in Ukraine, Israel and at the Paris Olympics.

“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,” Reuters said in a statement.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Evans was from the Cheshire area and had previously worked for nine years as an FCO operations manager in Libya.