KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — Russian missiles hit Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, hitting a city that is the main base of Ukrainian military operations amid warnings from Kyiv that Moscow launched a new attack in the 11-month-old war.
Russian attacks are intensifying in Kramatorsk, a longtime command center for the Ukrainian army and a staging area for Ukraine to defend the city of Bakhmut, which Russia has moved closer to capturing after months of fighting cruel picture. The fall of Bakhmut would be Moscow’s first major military victory since the summer, albeit at the expense of Russian and Ukrainian lives.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has said that the large buildup of Russian troops in the occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, coupled with a sharp increase in artillery attacks in the east, signal the beginnings. of a new Russian attack.
Reports of Russian artillery attacks in eastern Ukraine have increased from an average of about 60 per day four weeks ago to more than 90 per day, said Konrad Muzyka, a military analyst with Rochan Consulting. last week, with 111 Ukrainian locations targeted in just one day. monitor Russia’s deployment, said this week.
On Wednesday night, at least three people were killed and more than a dozen others injured when a rocket crashed into a four-story apartment complex in Kramatorsk, turning much of the building into a smoky pile of rubble.
As rescuers were digging through the rubble on Thursday, trying to find the entrance to the basement where residents might be hiding, a flash of light and two other rockets hit nearby. causing firefighters to flee.
One rocket hit a yard, overturning several vehicles and a row of garages, and another got stuck in the middle of the road. Residents ran to the basement when police warned that additional rockets were coming.
The head of the regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said five people were injured in Thursday’s airstrikes, which targeted a school, a hospital and more than a dozen buildings.
At a hospital near the scene of the explosion, Anna Olendarenko, 51, said two of her friends, a married couple, were injured, the husband suffered a severe concussion and the wife broke her arm.
“It’s horrible not even to describe it,” she said. “You can’t get wrapped up in it.”
Kramatorsk is Ukraine’s largest city near the epicenter of the war for the eastern region known as the Donbas. This is the site of a lot of military activity, with the number of soldiers and armored personnel carriers increasing in recent days. Bakhmut is about 20 miles away, and the entire area is bombarded almost daily by Russian bombs.
It’s not clear why the apartment building may have been targeted. At the scene of the explosion, the remains of several torn and scorched vehicles looked as if they belonged to the military.
Outside, the remains of human life are scattered among the bricks and cement blocks: a collection of colorful bras, a red volleyball, a teddy bear and a red play tent. , green and yellow children’s.
In April, at least 50 people were killed and many more injured in a rocket attack on Kramatorsk . station. The attacks continue: A Russian rocket landed just outside a kindergarten in the city last week, leaving a crater. On Wednesday, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine say it’s open a war crimes investigation into the latest attack.
“This is not a repetition of history; this is the daily reality of our country,” Zelensky said in a statement following Wednesday’s attacks.
Carly Olson Contribution reports from New York and Matthew Mpoke Bigg from London.
