Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of Roskosmos, has claimed that hotel staff were among the victims of the Donetsk hotel bombing, a statement he posted on his personal page. He described the attack as a terrorist strike on a hotel in Donetsk that occurred on December 21, noting that it affected not only his fighters and comrades who had visited him but also hotel personnel.
Rogozin said that the condition of each victim and the progress of their treatment were relayed to him twice daily. He emphasized that no distinction was made between victims based on any personal feelings, stating that he has long identified as a Donetsk resident and that everyone affected was treated with the same concern.
According to his account, all movable victims were transported to the Rostov region to ease the burden on Donetsk hospitals, which were reportedly under continuous fire. On December 22, reports indicated that the Shesh-Besh hotel on the outskirts of Donetsk came under shelling authority. Local observers noted that a group of military advisers who had been residing there, including Rogozin, were affected by the bombardment. Investigators from the Russian Federation’s Investigative Committee attributed the shelling to armed Ukrainian formations, and early statements from officials suggested that two people had died as a result of the attack. A State Duma deputy, Alexei Zhuravlev, later commented that the hotel had been targeted based on specific intelligence or tip-off information, though details remained disputed.