The murder of a Reuters employee: the SBU identified the Russian general who approved the attack on the hotel

Colonel General of the Russian Armed Forces Alexei Kim is suspected of violating the laws and customs of war.

This is stated in the text of the suspicion.

On August 24, 2024 at 22.3 – 22.35, a ballistic missile «Iskander» hit the hotel-restaurant «Sapphir» in the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region. As a result, one employee of the international news agency Reuters was killed, five more employees of the same agency and five other civilians were injured.

According to the investigation, the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Joint Group of Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, Alexei Kim, while in Rostov-on-Don, knew about the nature of the target to be hit by fire. The goal was to physically destroy civilians, namely journalists from the Reuters agency. 

In the period from August 21 to 24, 2024, Kim developed and approved a plan and decision to launch a missile strike on the hotel where the journalists were staying. It is noted that this group of journalists has been working in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.