AFP
The Reuters news agency said Sunday that a member of its team in east Ukraine was missing and two others were wounded in a night-time strike on a hotel in the east Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.
Kyiv earlier said Moscow struck the eastern city, which lies close to the frontline in the eastern Donetsk region.
“One of our colleagues is unaccounted for, while another two have been taken to hospital for treatment,” Reuters said, adding that a six-member crew was staying at the hotel and that it was “urgently seeking more information”.
Eleven people were killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine in the last 24 hours, the authorities said.
Reuters said its team covering the war in the east was staying at the Hotel Sapphire.
The agency said that “three other colleagues have been accounted for” and said it was “working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and supporting our colleagues and their families.”
Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Donetsk regional government, said earlier that two journalists were wounded while one was missing.
AFP saw a rescue operation, with emergency services working to clear the rubble.
Filashkin said in a Telegram post that the attack happened “in the middle of the night”.
“A hotel was targeted in the city — two people are currently known to be wounded, and one person is under the rubble,” the official said.
He said that another building next to the hotel was also damaged in the strike.
“Authorities, police and rescuers are working at the scene. The rubble is being cleared and rescue operations are underway,” Filashkin added.
Kramatorsk is the last major city in the Donbas region still under Ukrainian control. It is about 20 kilometres (13 miles) from the war’s front line.
In June 2023, a Russian strike on a restaurant in the city popular with foreign journalists and aid workers killed 12 people.
Kramatorsk had about 150,000 people before Russia’s February 2022 invasion, but it has been the target of repeated attacks since.
Filashkin said seven of those killed since Saturday died in the east in strikes on Kostyantynivka, Toretsk and Kotlyne.
“Fifteen people were wounded in the region over the last day,” he added.
Four people were also killed and 13 injured in shelling by the Russian army in the northern Sumy region, Ukrainian police said.