Russia-Ukraine war latest: Ex-British soldier killed in missile strike on hotel named as Zelensky pays tribute

Former US President Donald Trump has signalled his support for Ukraine in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskiy and said he wants to stop the war with Russia, the Ukrainian president told reporters in an interview posted on his social media.

Republican presidential candidate Trump is locked in a tight-run race with Vice President Kamala Harris in the 5 Nov US election and has threatened US withdrawal from NATO and said he would not defend allies that did not increase their defence budgets.

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 of Kramatorsk, the news agency said on Sunday.

Evans, who was working as a safety adviser for the agency, was killed after a missile struck the Hotel Sapphire where he was staying as part of a six-person team on Saturday, Reuters said in a statement.

Two of the agency’s journalists were being treated in hospital; one of them was seriously injured, it said.

“We are urgently seeking more information about the attack, including by working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and we are supporting our colleagues and their families,” Reuters said.

Evans, a former British soldier, had been working with Reuters since 2022 and advised its journalists on safety around the world including in Ukraine, Israel and at the Paris Olympics. He was 38.

“We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryan’s family and loved ones. Ryan has helped so many of our journalists cover events around the world; we will miss him terribly,” Reuters said.

The three other members of the Reuters team who were in the hotel at the time of the strike were accounted for and safe, the agency said.

President Zelensky expressed condolences to the families and friends of the victims of a Russian missile strike on a hotel housing a Reuters film crew.

In a post on X, he called the attack “deliberate”, adding: “Today in Kramatorsk, the entire day was spent clearing the rubble after a Russian missile strike. Among the injured were journalists – a Reuters film crew, citizens of Ukraine, America, and Britain. A regular city hotel was destroyed by a Russian “Iskander” missile.

“Deliberately. Calculated. Seven people were injured, and one person lost their life. My deepest condolences to the families and loved ones.”

Russia has seized more than $100m (£76m) from Google to fund propaganda supporting Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, court documents show.

US court fillings, seen by The Telegraph, show bailiffs took the funds from the tech giant’s Russian bank accounts in 2022, tipping its unit in the country into bankruptcy. 

According to the documents, bankruptcy managers handed the funds to Russian TV channels including the state-owned RT and Tsargrad.

Google’s Russian entity declared bankruptcy in 2022, saying the Kremlin had seized funds.

The US ambassador to Ukraine has condemned the Russian strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

Ambassador Bridget A. Brink wrote on X:“Another terrible strike by Russia on civilian targets in Ukraine last night, this time hitting a hotel in Kramatorsk and injuring a team of journalists. We condemn these attacks, for which Russia must be held accountable.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said negotiations were ongoing with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Switzerland regarding the second summit on peace in a conversation with Indian journalists.

Zelensky also said that he told India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi he would support India hosting the second summit on peace but added that Ukraine cannot organise it in a country which did not sign the communique from the previous summit.

“But I want to be frank, and this applies not only to India, but to any state that would be positive about hosting a second summit. We will not be able to hold a peace summit in a country that has not yet joined the peace summit communique,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president added that he discussed all of the points from the communique and previous peace summit during the meeting with Modi on Friday.

An FCDO Spokesperson said:“We are aware of reports of a British National missing in Ukraine and are seeking more information from the local authorities”.

In Kramatorsk, Reuters journalists have been pulled from under the rubble of a hotel destroyed by a missile strike.

The Kramatorsk City Council citing Oleksandr Honcharenko, the head of Kramatorsk City Military Administration reported Russian troops struck a hotel in Kramatorsk presumably with an Iskander-M missile, where Reuters journalists were staying.

Among the injured journalists were citizens of Ukraine, the United States, Latvia and Germany.

According to the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office, other foreign media journalists aged 38, 40, 41 and 46 sustained mine and blast injuries, brain injury, a broken leg, concussions, cut wounds and bruises.

Two 32 and 34-year-old women who were in their homes at the time of the attack, were also injured.

One person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on the village of Solovyovka in Russia’s Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said via his channel in the Telegram messaging app on Sunday.