Spanish aid worker killed in eastern Ukraine, other foreign nationals injured
By Niamh Kennedy and Duarte Mendonca, CNN
(CNN) — A Spanish aid worker has been killed in eastern Ukraine after a projectile fell on the vehicle she was traveling in, according to Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares.
Speaking to journalists at the G20 in New Delhi, Minister José Manuel Albares told journalists that a projectile fell on the vehicle carrying a Spanish citizen who “was posted there for an NGO.”
“We have verbal confirmation of her death, and we are now seeking certified confirmation from the Ukrainian authorities of her death,” the foreign minister added.
The woman has been named by Spanish public broadcaster RTVE as Emma Igual, the director of an NGO named “Road to Relief” which focuses on evacuating civilians from the Ukrainian frontline.
In a post on its Instagram account, Road to Relief provided an account of the attack, saying that four team members set off from Sloviansk in the direction of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Saturday morning.
On their way into the city of Chasiv Yar, the team’s vehicle “came under Russian attack,” the post said, adding that after being hit, the vehicle flipped over and caught fire.
In the post, the NGO said a Canadian volunteer named Anthony “Tonko” Ihnat was also killed in the attack, which CNN has not been able to independently verify.
The remaining passengers, according to the NGO, are German medical volunteer Ruben Mawick and Swedish volunteer Johan Mathias Thyr. Their conditions have both stabilized after they were “badly injured with shrapnel wounds and burns.”
The two surviving volunteers are receiving medical treatment in separate hospitals, according to Road to Relief.
The incident came amid fresh Russian attacks overnight Sunday.
Four people were injured in a drone attack launched by Russia on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the head of the local military administration, Ruslan Kravchenko, said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
He added that they have been given medical assistance, with one hospitalized with head and limb injuries.
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CNN’s Yulia Kesaieva and Josh Pennington contributed reporting.
