At least ten people were killed and 56 injured in a Russian strike on Tuesday against a popular restaurant in Kramatorsk, the only major city in eastern Ukraine controlled by Kiev, emergency services said on Wednesday. Among the dead are three children, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Telegram. “Rescuers are digging through the rubble of the destroyed building and looking for people who are likely to be under the rubble,” he added.
Information to remember:
- Ten people were killed and 56 injured in a Russian strike on Tuesday against a popular restaurant in Kramatorsk.
- The Belarusian leader assured that he had advised Vladimir Putin not to “kill” Yevgeny Prigojine.
- The leader of the paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigojine was welcomed to Belarus.
- The Kremlin has already denied that Russian President Vladimir Putin emerged weakened from this crisis.
- Zelensky announces arrest of individual after Russian ‘terrorist attack’ in Kramatorsk
The strike destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant, an establishment in the center of Kramatorsk popular with journalists and soldiers. According to the Ukrainian police, Russia fired two S-300 surface-to-air rockets on this city which had 150,000 inhabitants before the war, and which remains the only large agglomeration still under Ukrainian control in the east of the country.
Three Colombian personalities, the famous writer Hector Abad, the politician Sergio Jaramillo and the journalist Catalina Gomez, correspondent in Ukraine for the daily El Tiempo, were slightly injured while having dinner in the restaurant with the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, according to a statement signed by Messrs. Abad and Jaramillo.
Arrest of an individual after the Russian “terrorist attack” announces Zelensky
Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Wednesday the arrest of an individual after the Russian “terrorist attack” in Kramatorsk (east), which left at least 11 dead and “more than 60 injured” the day before, according to a latest report communicated by the Ukrainian president.
“Today the Security Service (SBU) and Special Police Forces arrested the person who coordinated this terrorist attack,” Zelensky said in his daily evening address.
A wounded novelist
Victoria Amelima, a 37-year-old novelist whose works have been translated into English, German and several other languages, “is in critical condition, injured in the skull”, adds the text, published before the report is released. rises to ten deaths.
MM. Abad and Jaramillo were staying in eastern Ukraine to “express to the Ukrainian people the solidarity of Latin America against barbarism and the illegal invasion led by Russia”, explains the text. An internationally renowned writer, Hector Abad is notably the author of “The forgetting that we will be”, a literary success from which a film was made in 2020. As for Mr. Jaramillo, a Colombian politician, he was one of the main negotiators of the peace agreement signed in 2016 with the Marxist guerrillas of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).
Several other buildings affected
In addition to the restaurant, apartments, shops, cars, a post office and several other buildings suffered damage, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office. An AFP reporter at the scene of the strike saw ambulances, police, soldiers and the mayor of the city near this restaurant, in front of which a crowd of residents gathered. A chef in a dust-covered uniform, Rouslan, 32, said there were “quite a lot of people” in the restaurant at the time of the strike, pointing to the sky: “I had luck”.
Located west of Bakhmout, a devastated city that was the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, Kramatorsk has been repeatedly targeted by Russian bombardments. The deadliest was that of Kramatorsk station, hit in April 2022, which left 61 dead and more than 160 injured a few weeks after the start of the Russian invasion and when a crowd of civilians tried to leave the city. .
A major rail hub, Kramatorsk has been the de facto regional capital since the eastern cities of Donetsk and Lugansk were captured by pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow in 2014.
Lithuania announces purchase of two NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems for Ukraine
Lithuania has acquired two advanced NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems from Norway’s Kongsberg that will be delivered to Ukraine within three months, the government announced on Wednesday. This announcement was made as Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda arrived in Kyiv for talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenski. “NASAMS system launchers will arrive in Ukraine in the near future,” Gitanas Nauseda explained on Facebook.
“Even in these circumstances, when stocks are empty, we find opportunities to help our friends,” he added in a video released separately. Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas valued the contract at 9.8 million euros, adding that the launchers will arrive in Ukraine in three months. According to the ministry, Norway will provide Ukraine with logistics equipment for NASAMS launchers.
Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted on Wednesday his “gratification” to Gitanas Nauseda for this acquisition. “This is an important and timely contribution to protect the Ukrainian skies and save the lives of Ukrainians. Together towards victory”, added the Ukrainian president. Lithuania will also send 10 M113 armored personnel carriers to kyiv.
Prigozhin welcomed to Belarus
On Tuesday, the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigojine was welcomed to Belarus as part of an agreement that ended his spectacular rebellion in Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced. The Belarusian leader assured that he had advised Vladimir Putin not to “kill” Yevgeny Prigojine, and considered that Belarus could benefit from the “experience” of Wagner’s fighters who will come to take refuge there
The tempestuous boss of Wagner had evaporated since announcing the end of his rebellion on Saturday evening, after 24 hours of chaos which saw his men seize military bases and march on Moscow, before suddenly turning around. .
The Kremlin denies that Vladimir Putin emerged weakened from this crisis
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Moscow and Minsk against any “threat” posed by the presence of Wagner’s boss in Belarus, bordering Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, three member countries of the covenant. “We have sent a clear message to Moscow and Minsk: NATO is here to protect every ally and every bit of NATO territory,” he said in The Hague after a dinner with seven NATO chiefs. State or government of the countries of the alliance. “So there is no room for misunderstanding in Moscow or Minsk about our ability to defend the allies against any potential threat.”
If the shock wave of the revolt led by the men of Yevgeny Prigojine remains to be measured, the Kremlin has already denied that Russian President Vladimir Putin has emerged weakened from this crisis, yet the worst in more than two decades of reign. The rebellion led society to “consolidate around the president”, assured the Kremlin. “The army and the people were not (on) the side” of the mutineers, added Mr. Putin during a ceremony in the Kremlin.