The Sapphire Hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk was partially destroyed on Saturday night after being hit by a rocket. The hotel is well known among journalists covering the war in Ukraine and is one of the few places in the frontline city considered safe for journalists and volunteers.
As photo editor of THE WEEK, I covered the war in Ukraine in July 2023, spending almost a week in this hotel and traveling from there to the front-line trenches near Bakhmut and Velyka Novosilka.
At the time of the latest attack, six journalists from the Reuters news agency were staying at the hotel. “One of our colleagues is missing, two others have been taken to hospital for treatment,” the agency said in a statement.
“Three more colleagues were reported missing. We are urgently looking for more information, working with the authorities in Kramatorsk and supporting our colleagues and their families. As soon as we have more information, we will keep you updated,” it said.
Reuters has taken precautions before sending its staff to conflict zones while covering the war in Afghanistan in 2021, following the death of its chief photographer Danish Siddiqui in India. He was killed in Spin Boldak, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, shortly before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
While staying at the Hotel Sapphire in 2023, I spoke to the hotel staff about the war and learned that the hotel had previously been the target of a Russian missile. However, the missile missed the target, they said.
I couldn’t sleep all night because I kept hearing the air raid sirens and thought that a rocket could hit the hotel at any time. I was even afraid to go to the toilet and take a bath. I always felt relieved when I left the hotel. It is sad to hear that people who made a living renting out rooms in war-torn Ukraine have lost their source of income.
The three-story hotel is located at the intersection of two main roads. It only offered accommodation, no food, and there were only a few guests, mainly journalists or volunteers.
The city of Kramatorsk is often visited by soldiers fighting on the front lines to buy essentials. On June 27 last year, the famous Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina died along with 13 other people when a Russian Iskendar-M missile hit the city. Up to 61 people were injured in the attack.
The same Iskendar-M missile is blamed for the attack on the Sapphire hotel. Russia has not yet commented on the incident. However, Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin said in a Telegram post that “the Russians hit Kramatorsk” and that two journalists were injured, while one is missing after an attack on a hotel.
“Authorities, police and rescue services are working on site. The debris removal and rescue operations are underway,” he said.
The attack came after Ukraine invaded the Russian region of Kursk. For more than two weeks, Ukraine has held more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory. Meanwhile, Russia has the eastern city of Pokrovsk in its sights and is continuing its advance on the city. Ukraine had called on the citizens of Pokrovsk to evacuate the city last week.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kyiv on August 23 and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two leaders discussed the current situation and ways to bring peace to Ukraine.
Modi took a 10-hour train journey from Poland to Kyiv and the historic visit came six weeks after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
