June 28, 2023
Updated 3 hours ago
Image Credit: Ed Habershon/BBC
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a suspected Russian agent involved in the attack on the city of Kramatorsk will be charged with treason.
Those who help Russia destroy lives deserve the “maximum punishment,” he said.
Eleven people, including three teenagers, were killed in a missile attack on a popular restaurant on Tuesday.
Ukrainian security services said the man sent video footage of the restaurant to the Russian military hours before the destruction.
Among those killed were 14-year-old twin sisters Julija and Anna Aksenchenko and a 17-year-old girl.
“Russian missiles stopped the heartbeat of two angels,” Kramatorsk City Council’s education department said in a statement.
At least 60 others were injured, including Colombian nationals and a leading Ukrainian writer.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian security services released a photo of a local man they arrested, who described him as a Russian agent.
In his evening speech, Mr. Zelenskyy said the country’s security services had worked with special police forces to arrest the suspect, who faces a life sentence.
Emergency services said Wednesday search and rescue efforts were ongoing.
Kramatorsk, an eastern city in the Donetsk region, is under Ukrainian control but is close to Russian-occupied parts of the country.
In April last year, a rocket attack on a train station in the city killed more than 50 people and injured many more.
The Ria Lounge, which was targeted this time, was a popular meeting place where international journalists, volunteers and Ukrainian soldiers regularly took a break from the nearby front lines.
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Authorities in Kramatorsk named two of the victims of last night’s attack as 14-year-old twins Yulia and Anna Aksenchenko.
Sergio Jaramillo Caro, a former Colombian peace negotiator, told the BBC he was sitting in the restaurant when it was attacked on Tuesday night but suffered only minor injuries.
Describing the moments after the blast, Mr Jaramillo Caro said he “saw particles moving in slow motion” as he tried to understand what was happening.
A leading Ukrainian writer sitting with them – whose identity has not been released – is in critical condition and “fighting for her life”.
“Please pray for them,” said Mr. Jaramillo Caro.
Valentyna, a Kramatorsk resident who owns a cafe near the site, spoke about the damage after the attack. “Everything’s blown up out there,” she told Portal, adding that “there’s no glass, windows or doors left.”
The Kremlin again claimed to only conduct attacks on military targets, and Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it had destroyed a “temporary deployment of”. [Ukrainian] Commanders” in Kramatorsk without going into detail.
An adviser to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Yuri Sak, told the BBC that Ukraine’s air defenses are currently “insufficient to cover the entire territory of Ukraine”.
Ukraine continues to ask its allies to provide them with modern warplanes to defend against Russian attacks.
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Watch: Shock and destruction after Russian missiles hit restaurants