White House condemns missile strike that killed Reuters safety adviser in Ukraine

The White House condemned a missile attack in Ukraine over the weekend that injured Reuters journalists and killed a safety adviser for the news agency, and offered Reuters its condolences, a National Security spokesperson said in a post on X on Tuesday.

“We condemn this attack in the strongest of terms and extend our deepest condolences to @Reuters on the loss of one of their own,” NSC spokesperson Sean Savett wrote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk had been hit by a Russian Iskander, a ballistic missile that can strike at distances up to 500 km (310 miles).

Reuters was not able to independently verify if the missile that hit the hotel was fired by Russia, or if the strike on that building was deliberate.

Ryan Evans, a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine, was killed and two Reuters journalists were injured in a strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city, the news agency said on Sunday. Evans was working as a safety adviser for the agency.