Two killed and eight injured by Russian strikes in Kramatorsk
Two people were killed and eight injured in Russian strikes with “cluster munitions” in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, the city’s mayor announced.
“Russia continues to reign terror. Consequences of the shelling of Kramatorsk with cluster munitions: two people were killed and eight injured, three of them seriously”Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko said on Saturday afternoon on his Facebook page.
A dozen residential buildings and fourteen municipal facilities in this city, located in eastern Ukraine, were damaged, he said.
Journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP) heard a dozen almost simultaneous explosions shortly before 4 p.m. and saw smoke rising in a park in the south of the city. Shortly after, another dozen explosions of the same type were heard in a residential area about two kilometers from the first strike.
In the park, a woman died on the spot as a result of her injuries, caused by shrapnel ammunition, noted AFP journalists. In the residential area, a taxi driver was seriously injured.
“She had come to see me briefly and was about to leave. I said goodbye to him, I closed the door, and a few seconds later I heard the explosions”told AFP Lena, with whom the taxi driver was. “I ran outside and saw her lying on the ground by the fence, she was bleeding. We called the ambulance (…). It’s frightening. I was lucky to be inside with my daughter when it all happened”added the 46-year-old woman.
This is the second time this week that the city has been targeted by Russian strikes. On Tuesday, a shelling in the center left one dead and three injured, and six residential buildings were damaged. 1is February, a bombardment killed three people there.
A city of about 150,000 people before the Russian invasion, launched more than a year ago, Kramatorsk is near Bakhmout, the epicenter of fighting for months. Regularly bombarded by the Russian army, Kramatorsk has played the role of a regional center since the occupation of the city of Donetsk in 2014 by Russian and pro-Russian forces.