Rescuers search debris after attack in Kramatorsk Image: AFP
At least four people were killed and 47 others injured in a Russian rocket attack on a restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, according to the authorities. According to police, Russia fired two surface-to-air missiles.
At least four people were killed and 47 others injured in a Russian rocket attack on a restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, according to the authorities. The attack destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant in the city center, popular with journalists and military personnel. According to the Ukrainian police, Russia fired two S-300 surface-to-air missiles at the city.
“Four people, including a 17-year-old girl, were killed,” the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said on Telegram. A fire was started by the rocket impact. Other people could be under the rubble, which is why the exact number of victims is still unclear.
According to the Interior Ministry, a minor born in 2008 was among the fatalities. A child born in 2022 was injured, it said on Telegram.
The rescue workers reported 47 injured. Among them were three Colombians — well-known author Hector Abad, politician Sergio Jaramillo and journalist Catalina Gomez — who had lunched with Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelima at the restaurant, Abad and Jaramillo said in a joint statement. The 37-year-old Amelima, whose works have been translated into German and English, is in mortal danger, it said. She was injured in the head.
In addition to the restaurant, apartments, shops, cars and a post office as well as several other buildings were damaged, the prosecutor said. A journalist from AFP saw ambulances, police, soldiers and the city’s mayor at the scene. Numerous residents of the city gathered in front of the restaurant.
“A large number of civilians” were in the restaurant at the time of the attack, said the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
“There were a lot of people in there – there are children under the rubble,” said Yevgen, who had dinner with two friends. “We were just about to leave”. But now one of his friends is under the rubble, he told AFP.
Her 23-year-old half-brother Nikita was standing near the pizza oven when the attack took place, Natalia described with tears. “You can’t get him out, he’s buried. Roof tiles fell on him.”
Kramatorsk was a city of 150,000 before the war and is the last major city under Ukrainian control in the east of the country. It is about 30 kilometers from the front.
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