Twin sisters, 14, are killed after Russian missile hits pizza restaurant in Ukraine
Twin girls were among at least 10 people killed after a Russian missile hit a pizza restaurant. A further 61 people have been injured.
Smiling broadly at the camera, twins Yulia and Anna Aksenchenko hold up a drawing of their school.
On the picture are the words “school No24 - 60 years!”.
They are written in Russian.
Yulia and Anna were among ten people killed when a Russian missile hit a pizza restaurant in Kramatrosk, in eastern Ukraine, on Tuesday night.
A 17-year-old girl also died and an eight-month-old baby is among the 61 injured.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has always maintained that the invasion of Ukraine is aimed at protecting Russian-speaking people... just like Yulia and Anna.
The twins were killed just 24 kilometres from the front line at Ria Pizza, a restaurant popular with young people as well as aid workers and journalists.
An AFP journalist on the scene shortly after the strike saw the restaurant in ruins surrounded by debris, with rescuers rushing to clear the rubble and search for bodies.
Photographs of the scene showed people walking away covered in blood.
Among the injured is prominent Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, 37, who is said to be in a critical condition.
Russia has denied striking civilian infrastructure throughout its 16-month long Ukraine campaign.
Andrei Kostin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, said Russia fired two powerful Iskander missiles at the city.
One hit the restaurant and one hit Bilenke, a nearby village, injuring five.
The Kremlin claims it only hits targets in Ukraine that are linked to the military.
“Strikes are only carried out on objects that are in one way or another linked to military infrastructure,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“The Russian Federation does not carry out strikes on civilian infrastructure,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video message that the attacks showed that Russia “deserved defeat and a tribunal”.
One woman, Natalia, said her half-brother Nikita, 23, was inside the building near the pizza oven when the bomb hit.
“They can’t get him out, he was covered by debris”, she said.
Video footage posted by the Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko showed wailing emergency vehicles pulling into the affected area and rescue teams in protective equipment moving rubble.
Other footage on military Telegram channels showed one man, his head bleeding, receiving first aid on the pavement.
“People told me they heard a plane flying, there was a hissing and then an explosion,” said a 19-year-old Ukrainian soldier.
Kramatorsk has been the frequent target of Russian attacks, including a strike on a the town’s railway station in April last year that killed 63 people.
The missile strikes happened a day after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner group of mercenaries, arrived in Belarus where he is in exile after attempting a mutiny against Putin and a march on Moscow.
The rebellion has been hailed as the beginning of the end for Putin, whose position as Russian leader has been severely compromised.
However, the mutiny has had little impact on the Russian army and it’s ability to kill the very people Putin pretends he wants to protect.
Eerie vision of missing family emerges
A fugitive father and the three children he ran off with almost three years ago have been spotted alive and well trekking through remote bushland.
‘Feel the pain’: Terror leader’s chilling video
One of the most senior remaining leaders of Hezbollah has issued a chilling video message, promising “pain” for the Israelis.
Huge twist for prime McCann suspect
The prime suspect in the case of Maddie McCann has been cleared in a separate rape trial and could walk free in a matter of weeks.