Three Colombian citizens were present and were slightly injured when a Russian rocket hit a restaurant area in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday this week.
In an interview with a Colombian radio station, reproduced by the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti, Russia has now apologized for the incident.
– We are absolutely sorry that Colombian citizens ended up in this place at that particular time. But I draw attention to the fact that attacks are carried out on objects that are somehow connected with military infrastructure, says Marija Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Expert: – Seems funny
Teenagers killed
Zakharova claims that the target of the Russian attack, in which at least 12 people – three of them teenagers, among them the two 14-year-old twin sisters Julija and Anna – were killed and more than 60 injured, was aimed at “legitimate targets”.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, they had indications that officers of the Ukrainian 56th Motorized Infantry Brigade were in the building in question in Kramatorsk.
However, the Russian rocket – probably a short-range Iskander type missile – hit a pizza restaurant that is popular among foreign journalists covering the war in Ukraine.
THE VICTIMS: At least 12 people were killed in Kramatorsk on Tuesday. Three of them were teenagers. Photo: AFP / NTB Show more
Russia: Killed officers
Around the same time as the attack in the center of Kramatorsk, a Russian rocket hit a village on the outskirts of the city.
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed it had killed two generals, up to 50 Ukrainian officers and 20 foreign mercenaries in the rocket attacks.
These figures have not been confirmed by other sources.
Tobias Sæther at the staff school at the Norwegian Defense Academy (FHS) has told Dagbladet that he is skeptical of the Russian claims.
– It seems funny, he said on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for his part, has strongly condemned the Kramatorsk attack. In his daily video greeting the same evening, he referred to the Russians as terrorists who would receive their punishment.
BOMBED: This is what the restaurant in central Kramatorsk looked like after being hit by what was probably a Russian Iskander short-range missile. Photo: AFP / NTB Show more
Arrested by the security service
On Wednesday it emerged that the Ukrainian security service and a special force from the police should have arrested a man who, according to Zelenskyj, should have assisted in the coordination of the attack.
The security service has stated that the man worked for a gas company, that he allegedly filmed the restaurant in Kramatorsk and gave Russia information that it is popular.
Kramatorsk has around 160,000 inhabitants and is located close to the front in Eastern Ukraine. The city has been subjected to several attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February last year.
2023-06-29 20:14:42
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