(Reuters) – Ukraine said on Friday that Colonel General Alexei Kim, a deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, ordered a missile strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August that killed Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans and wounded two of the agency’s journalists.
A statement published by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Telegram said Kim signed off on the strike on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk on Aug. 24.
It said it had named him in absentia as an official suspect, a step in any Ukrainian criminal proceedings against an individual that can later lead to charges.
“It was Kim who signed the directive and gave the combat order to fire on the hotel, where only civilians were staying,” it said.
There was no immediate comment from Russia’s defence ministry, which did not respond to previous requests for comment about the attack. The news agency also received no response to messages to Kim’s mobile telephone seeking comment about the SBU statement.
In response to questions from Reuters, the SBU declined to share a copy of the directive signed by Kim, or provide further evidence to support its claims. The news agency could not independently confirm them.
“To carry out the attack, the Russian colonel general involved one of his subordinate missile forces units,” the Ukrainian agency said, adding that the strike was carried out with an Iskander-M ballistic missile.
The SBU did not identify the specific unit.
Their statement said Kim had been named a suspect under two articles of the Ukrainian criminal code: waging an aggressive war and violating the laws and customs of war.
Reuters said: “We note the news today from the Ukrainian security services regarding the missile attack on August 24, 2024, on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a civilian target more than 20 km from Russian-occupied territory.”
“The strike had devastating consequences, killing our safety advisor, Ryan Evans, and injuring members of our editorial team. We continue to seek more information about the attack. It is critically important for journalists to be able to report freely and safely,” the statement said.
Evans, a 38-year-old former British soldier who had worked as a safety adviser for Reuters since 2022, was killed instantly in the strike.
Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey, a videographer for the news agency who was in a room across the corridor, was seriously wounded. Kyiv-based text correspondent Dan Peleschuk was also injured.
The remaining three members of the Reuters team escaped with minor cuts and scratches.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; editing by Jon Boyle)
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