Dozens injured in overnight Russian attacks on Ukraine as Moscow claims five dead in Kyiv offensive

Russian forces struck a hotel in eastern Ukraine where a team of journalists was staying - while five people died in Ukrainian shelling on the border region of Belgorod, local officials claimed on Sunday.

One journalist was missing and two were injured following the overnight strike on the hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk , the governor of Donetsk region said. All three were reported to be journalists from Ukraine, the US and the UK.

The attack was one of several Russian missile and drone strikes targeting northern and eastern Ukraine that injured at least 29 people, according to the Ukrainian military and local authorities .

News agency Reuters confirmed on Sunday that its journalist covering the war in Ukraine was missing and two other team members were taken to hospital after Hotel Sapphire, where a six-person crew was staying, was hit.

The rest of the team have been accounted for.

“We are urgently seeking more information, working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and supporting our colleagues and their families. We will give an update when we have more information,” a statement from Reuters added.

Vadym Filashkin, governor of Donetsk region, said in a post on Telegram: “Authorities, police and rescuers are working on the spot. Debris clearance and rescue operations are ongoing.”

In addition to the hotel, a nearby multistorey building was also destroyed, Mr Filashkin said.

Ukraine‘s eastern Kharkiv region also came under Russian fire, resulting in several people injured, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.

In Kharkiv’s Chuhuiv region, five people were injured, including a four-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, after two houses were struck by Russian fire. In Kharkiv city, eight people were wounded when a two-storey house was set on fire by a Russian attack.

In Balakliia, a Russian strike destroyed six houses and damaged others. A 55-year-old man was injured. In the Kupiansk area, a house was set on fire by a Russian attack, wounding four women.

Meanwhile, Russian officials claimed five people were killed in Ukrainian shelling in the border region of Belgorod.

Russian regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov also said 12 other people were injured in the alleged attack on the village of Rakitone in the region.

Russia has been pummelling Ukrainian border regions with strikes in recent weeks. Kyiv has said its surprise incursion earlier this month into the Kursk region was partly aimed to hinder Moscow’s ability to stage such attacks.

“Most of the missiles did not reach their targets,” the Ukrainian air force said on Saturday night’s attacks, adding that Russia launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile, an Iskander-K cruise missile and six guided air missiles. It did not specify how many missiles were destroyed.

The Ukrainian military added Russia launched nine attack drones, with Ukraine‘s air defence systems destroying eight of them over the Ukraine‘s Mykolaiv region.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

It comes as Russia’s defence ministry announced  it sent more artillery to the Kursk region where Russian forces are fighting thousands of Ukrainian troops who pierced the Russian border on 6 August.

“Additional missile and artillery weapons have been supplied to the group,” the ministry said in a statement on supplies to troops in the Russian border regions.

Additional reporting by agencies