Russian Strike on Kramatorsk Kills at Least 2

Russian rocket fire killed at least two people in the eastern city of Kramatorsk Saturday night, the regional governor said.

AFP journalists at the scene saw rescue workers carrying a victim from a destroyed two-story home in a white body bag, as emergency services dug through rubble for survivors.

Ukraine’s Donetsk Governor Vadim Filashkin said Russia had fired three rockets at Kramatorsk.

“Rescuers pulled the body of a woman born in 1977 from the rubble,” he wrote on social media, adding later that the body of a 23-year-old man had also been found.

One more person was feared buried under the piles of broken concrete and debris, he added.

Alexander, who lives in the residential neighborhood that came under attack told AFP he heard a loud noise followed by an explosion.

“I was in the hall playing with my two-year-old daughter,” the 25-year-old said. “She was hysterical.

“All the window frames and doors were blown out from our house,” he added.

Dozens of rescue workers were at the scene of the strike working by lamplight, using construction vehicles, their hands and shovels at times to shift the debris.

At one point they cut floodlights powered by loud generators to listen for signs of life under debris next to a two-meter crater.

A neighbor who arrived at the scene of the strike in shock appealed to police for information.

“Tell me, are they alive? I’ll call Sasha now. Maybe he’s alive,” she cried.

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The Ukrainian military regularly reports that Russian forces are resorting to ‘meat assaults,’ sending wounded or poorly trained fighters into battle as cannon fodder.

The authorities did not immediately identify the victims.

Air raids sirens rang out over the city warning of fresh strikes as the rescue operation was ongoing.

A spokeswoman for the regional administration said the strike followed an escalating pattern of indiscriminate Russian attacks on civilians.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow, but the Kremlin has repeatedly denied its forces target civilian infrastructure.

Kramatorsk is around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the frontlines in eastern Ukraine.

It has come under repeated Russian attack since the start of the war two years ago, including an April 2022 strike on the city’s train station that killed more than 60 people.