Madrid, June 27 (EFE).- Four people died and 42 others sustained varying degrees of injuries in a Russian missile strike Tuesday evening on a busy restaurant and shopping zone of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, Ukrainian officials said.
A 17-year-old girl was among the dead, according to the Ukrainian National News Agency, which said one of the injured was an eight-month-old baby.
Acclaimed Colombian author Hector Abad, Colombian former peace commissioner Sergio Jaramillo and Colombian journalist Catalina Gomez – all prominent supporters of Ukraine, who had traveled to Ukraine for a book fair in Kyiv and then visited parts of the country’s war-torn east – were inside a pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk when it was badly damaged in the attack.
Abad and Jaramillo said in a statement that they and Gomez had suffered only minor injuries but that a Ukrainian novelist who was dining with them – Victoria Amelina – was in critical condition with a cranial wound.
The missile exploded in an area where apartment buildings, retail outlets, a restaurant and other buildings are located, blowing out windows, glass and doors.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack in that city, which is located just west of the front lines in the Donetsk region and a frequent target of Russian attacks.
“Today, the Russian terrorists … brutally bombarded Kramatorsk (with) S-300 missiles. Three people died, including a child,” he said in his regular nightly address, citing the death toll at that time. “My condolences to the family members and friends” of those killed.
He also expressed thanks to US President Joe Biden for a new $500 million security assistance package for Ukraine that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had announced earlier Tuesday. EFE
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