Did the Russian strike on a restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday target Ukrainian military personnel? Two rockets fell in the evening on a pizzeria in this city near the front, making, according to the Ukrainian authorities, 12 dead and sixty wounded among the many civilians who were there.
While the Kremlin had assured through its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, that Russian forces were not targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, the Russian army claimed on Thursday to be behind a bombing of the city that day, intended to neutralize Ukrainian officers.
"Following a high-precision strike (...), two generals, up to 50 officers of the Ukrainian forces and up to 20 foreign mercenaries and military instructors who participated in a meeting (...) have been eliminated," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, without specifying whether it was the bombing of the restaurant.
On Wednesday, the ministry said the strike was aimed at "the temporary deployment point of the commanders of the 56th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."
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A city of 150,000 inhabitants before the war, Kramatorsk was the last major agglomeration under Ukrainian control before the front line in the East. The Ukrainian authorities, who had mentioned the presence "mainly of civilians" in this restaurant popular with journalists, aid workers and military, have not yet confirmed the Russian reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid tribute Wednesday night to the victims "including three children". He added that Ukrainian security services and police forces were holding an enemy agent suspected of "coordinating" the attack that hit the "regular café."
First of all, regarding yesterday's 🇷🇺 attack on Kramatorsk. Today, work continued all day at the site of the attack. Unfortunately, the death toll has increased. 🇷🇺 missiles claimed the lives of 11 of our people, including three children. My condolences to the families. Moor... pic.twitter.com/U1iNlfDqLd
— Володимир зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 28, 2023
Among the wounded were three prominent Colombians, including the famous writer Hector Abad, who were lightly injured. A well-known Ukrainian writer, Victoria Amelina, was also among the injured, according to the Kyiv Independent. She would be more seriously affected and currently hospitalized.