- According to the organizations, the damaged hotels were mostly located near the front line.
- At least 15 strikes were carried out by Iskander 9K720 high-precision missiles.
PARIS: Russia deliberately targeted hotels where journalists were staying while covering the war in Ukraine, NGOs Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Truth Hounds said on Friday, calling the strikes “war crimes”.
From the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 to mid-March 2025, there were at least 31 Russian strikes on 25 hotels, according to a report by the two organizations.
An attack in August 2024 in the eastern city of Kramatorsk killed Ryan Evans, a security consultant working for the international news agency Reuters.
According to the organizations, the damaged hotels were mostly located near the front line.
Only one was used for military purposes.
“The rest housed civilians, including journalists,” said RSF and Truth Hounds, a Ukrainian organization set up to document war crimes in the country.
“In total, 25 journalists and media workers were injured in the hotel explosions, and at least seven were wounded,” they said.
They said at least 15 of the strikes were carried out by Iskander 9K720 precision missiles, condemning the “methodical and coordinated targeting.”
“Russia's attacks on hotels housing journalists in Ukraine are neither random nor haphazard,” Pauline Maufret, Reporters Without Borders' regional representative in Ukraine, said in a statement.
“These attacks are part of a larger strategy to sow terror and reduce coverage of the war. By targeting civilian infrastructure, they violate international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes.”
According to RSF, 13 journalists have died while covering the Russian invasion, 12 of them on Ukrainian territory.
They include AFP video journalist Arman Soldin, who was killed in a rocket attack near the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakmut on May 9, 2023. He was 32.
