Brit missing after vengeful Putin launches deadly strike on Ukraine hotel
The man was working with Reuters, a London-based news agency. Two of his colleagues, reportedly journalists from the US and Ukraine, were injured in the explosion.
A British journalist is missing after a hotel in the eastern Dontesk region of Ukraine was blown up in a "missile strike".
According to regional Governor Vadym Filashkin, Hotel Sapphire in the city of Kramatorsk was hit overnight, with two people injured and the Briton believed to be trapped under the rubble.
The man was working with Reuters, a London-based news agency. Two of his colleagues, reportedly journalists from the US and Ukraine, were injured in the explosion.
Authorities had launched an urgent search for the missing man, after what Reuters said was an "apparent missile strike".
"One of our colleagues is unaccounted for, while another two have been taken to hospital for treatment," the agency said, adding that the rest of the team - which included three others - had been accounted for.
Local officials said an Iskander-M Russian ballistic missile had struck the hotel, causing blast injuries, concussions, and cuts.
Associated Press reporters said excavators were still being used to clear the rubble left by the strike hours later. Mr Filashkin said a multistory building nearby was also destroyed, and search and rescue crews were clearing the debris.
A video shared online by Ukrainian Government advisor Anton Gerashchenko purported to show the inside of the destroyed hotel, where glass and rubble was scattered all around.
Ukrainian authorities said wrote on Telegram that an probe had been launched into the strike which struck shortly after 10.30pm.
Meanwhile, five other people were killed in Ukrainian shelling in Belgorod, a Russian border region. According to regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, twelve others were wounded, including a 16-year-old girl who is reportedly in a critical condition, in Rakitone, a Russian village 23 miles from the Ukrainian border.
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Later Mr Gladkov announced on social media that a man had been killed in a separate drone attack on the border village of Solovevka.
Kramatorsk is the last major city in the eastern Donbas region which remains under Ukrainian control two years on from the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022.
A spokesperon for the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) said: “We are aware of reports of a British National missing in Ukraine and are seeking more information from the local authorities”.
The hotel attack comes after Ukrainian forces launched a shock cross-border advance into Kursk, seizing villages, taking hundreds of prisoners and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians.
Russia was apparently unprepared by the offensive, which caused anger and confusion in Moscow and piled pressure on Putin. Russia's forces are reportedly drafting conscripts to repel some of Ukraine’s most battle-hardened units.
