Ukraine says Russian general deliberately targeted Reuters staff in August missile strike By Reuters

(Reuters) – Ukraine’s security service has named the Russian general it suspects of carrying out a missile attack on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August and said he acted with a motive to deliberately kill Reuters staff.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on Friday that Russia’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Colonel General Alexei Kim, approved the August 24 killing of Reuters security adviser Ryan Evans and the wounding of two of the agency’s journalists.

In a statement released on the Telegram messenger, the SBU said it was remotely notifying Kim that he was an official suspect in the investigation into the attack on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a step in a Ukrainian criminal trial that could lead to charges later.

In a separate 15-page notice of suspicion, in which the SBU presented the results of its investigation, the agency stated that the decision to launch the missile was made “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of the Reuters international news agency who were engaged in journalistic activity in Ukraine.”

The document, published on Friday on the Prosecutor General’s Office website, said Kim had received intelligence that Reuters staff were staying in Kramatorsk. It added that Kim “would have been fully aware that the individuals were civilians and had not taken part in the armed conflict.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters that “the Russian military is only targeting military infrastructure” in Ukraine.

He referred additional questions to the Russian Defense Ministry, which did not respond to a request for comment on the SBU’s findings and did not respond to previous questions about the attack. was to Reuters employees.

The SBU did not provide evidence to support its claims, nor did it say why Russia targeted Reuters. therefore unable to disclose such information.

Reuters has not independently verified any of the SBU’s claims.

“We note today the news from the security services of Ukraine about the August 24, 2024 missile attack on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a civilian target more than 20 km from Russian-occupied territory.

“The strike had devastating consequences, killing our security adviser and injuring members of our editorial team. It is vital that journalists are able to report freely and safely,” the statement said.

Reuters declined to comment further on the claim that its employees were deliberately targeted.

The SBU statement said Kim was suspected of two articles of Ukraine’s criminal code for waging an aggressive war and violating the laws and customs of war.

“It was Kim who signed the directive and gave the combat order to shoot at the hotel, where only civilians were,” the message says.

Evans, a 38-year-old former British soldier who had worked for Reuters since 2022 as a security adviser, was killed instantly by the impact.

The SBU statement provided few details about how the strike took place, according to its investigation.

“To carry out the attack, the Russian colonel-general involved one of the units of his subordinate missile forces,” the Ukrainian agency reported, adding that the attack was carried out with an “Iskander-M” ballistic missile.

The SBU did not identify the specific unit.

News agency videographer Ivan Lubish-Kirdei, who was in the room across the corridor, was seriously injured. Dan Peleschuk, a text reporter from Kyiv, was also injured.

The three remaining members of the Reuters team escaped with minor cuts and scrapes.