Journalist missing in Russian strike on east Ukraine hotel

KRAMATORSK:

A member of the Reuters news agency was missing and two others were wounded in a strike on a hotel in the east Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the agency said Sunday, with Russian attacks killing 15 civilians across the country in the last 24 hours.

In another deadly day in the two-and-a-half year war, six civilians were also killed in Ukrainian strikes on Russian border regions, Russian officials said.

The attacks came as Kyiv mounts an incursion into Russia's Kursk region, which has rattled Moscow but not slowed its advance in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said attacks on Saturday said Sunday killed 15 civilians in the war-battered Donetsk, northeastern Sumy and the southern Kherson regions.

In the east Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, a search and rescue operation was underway after a strike late on Saturday on the Hotel Sapphire, where Reuters said six of its crew covering the war were staying.

Kramatorsk -- the last major city under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk region -- is often used as a base for aid workers and foreign journalists.

"One of our colleagues is unaccounted for, while another two have been taken to hospital for treatment," Reuters said, adding that it was "urgently seeking more information".

The agency said "three other colleagues have been accounted for" and said it was "working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and supporting our colleagues and their families."

The head of the Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, said earlier two journalists were wounded while one was missing, saying the strike happened "in the middle of the night." He said a rescue operation was ongoing and "the rubble was being cleared".

Ukrainian prosecutors said the hotel was hit by a Russian Iskander missile at 10.35 pm on Saturday, with the strike also damaging the building next door.

AFP saw authorities giving out plywood to locals for them to board their windows.