News Kramatorsk attack: Russian missile attack leaves terrified civilians scrambling for shelter

Kramatorsk, Ukraine
CNN
—

A new round of missile strikes hit the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk on Thursday, sending flames and thick plumes into the air as screaming civilians scrambled for shelter.

A CNN team had just arrived on the scene and heard the first attack in Kramatorsk. CNN saw the second attack, about a minute apart. Two women jumped out of the car and yelled while other civilians ducked as best they could. Shrapnel bounced off the blast-proof glass of a CNN vehicle.

Paramedics rushed to the scene to treat at least one injured civilian. Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko also confirmed a strike in the city and urged residents to stay in bomb shelters.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said at least five people were wounded in Thursday’s attack.

“They damaged 13 two-story buildings, three four-story buildings, a children’s clinic and school, garages and cars,” Kyrylenko said. “Russians are confirming their terrorist status every day,” he said.

“It was a really big explosion and a lot of people obviously ran for cover,” CNN’s Frederick Plettgen told WIRED, adding that Thursday’s two attacks “were Happened in the heart of a civilian city”.

Ukrainian authorities believe Russian forces bombed Kramatorsk with S-300 missiles. The weapon is “very inaccurate” when aimed at ground targets, Pleitgen added.

“When it’s done to hit densely populated urban areas, it becomes even more dangerous.”

At least three civilians were killed and eight others were wounded in another attack in Moscow after Russian forces targeted residential areas with Iskander-K missiles on Wednesday, according to local police. Honcharenko said two of the wounded were in critical condition.

Rescuers scoured piles of rubble in an attempt to find survivors after Wednesday’s attack, which damaged eight apartment buildings. Authorities also evacuated people to a local school for shelter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack and offered his condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

“This is not history repeating itself; this is the everyday reality of our country,” he said on Telegram.

“A country that borders on absolute evil. To reduce to zero the possibility of such a tragedy happening again, a country must overcome it. We will surely find and punish all perpetrators. They deserve no mercy.”

Moscow’s attack on Kramatorsk came after a senior official in Kyiv said Russia was preparing for the “maximum escalation” of the war in Ukraine in recent years.

“This will determine the months of the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an interview that aired on Tuesday.

“I know the major battles are not yet coming, they will happen within two to three months of this year,” he said.

“Russia is preparing for maximum escalation. It is collecting everything it can, conducting exercises and training. When it comes to attacks from different directions, as of now, I can say that we do not rule out that in the next two to three weeks Whatever happens.”