Aid worker from Spain killed in Ukraine after Russian attack hit her convoy

SPAIN’S foreign minister confirmed on Sunday that a Spanish aid worker had died in Ukraine, after her convoy was hit by a Russian attack. 

Emma Igual was the director of the NGO Road to Relief, and her death was conveyed to Spain via ‘verbal  confirmation’, said Jose Manuel Albares, speaking on Sunday from the ongoing G20 summit in India. 

The minister added that he was awaiting ‘certified confirmation’ of the death from the Ukrainian authorities, but that the Spanish government’s understanding was that a missile had struck the vehicle in which she was travelling, news agency Europa Press reported. 

Road to Relief also released information about the attack via its Instagram page, before it received confirmation of Igual’s death. 

“Earlier this morning around 10AM, four of our Road to Relief team members left from Slovyansk toward Bakhmut direction to assess the needs of civilians caught in crossfire in the town of Ivanivske, Bakhmut Region, Donetsk Oblast,” read a post shared on the social network late on Saturday night. 

“On their way in, past Chasiv Yar, their vehicle came under Russian attack. Proceeding a direct hit, the vehicle flipped over and lit on fire,” the message continued. 

“In the vehicle was German medical volunteer Ruben Mawick, Swedish volunteer Johan Mathias Thyr, Canadian volunteer Anthony ‘Tonko’ Ihnat, and Spanish volunteer and Road to Relief Director Emma Igual,” it said. 

“Ruben and Johan were badly injured with shrapnel wounds and burns but are now stable in separate hospitals far from the scene. Tonko has been confirmed dead and his body has been retrieved […],” the post stated.

Igual was the director and cofounder of Road to Relief, an NGO which has been providing assistance in Ukraine since 2022, the year that Russia invaded. It has been evacuating civilians to the country’s borders as well as delivering humanitarian aid to the worst-affected areas.

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