Death toll from Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant rises to 12

At least 60 people were wounded, including a baby born last year

Rescuers at work at the site of a rocket strike in downtown Kramatorsk. EPA

The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a packed pizza restaurant in eastern Ukraine has risen to 12, with at least 60 wounded.

In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Kramatorsk strike a "terrorist attack" and announced that a suspect had been arrested on suspicion of co-ordinating the assault.

According to Ukrainian police, during the attack on Tuesday, Russia fired two S-300 missiles – surface-to-air devices that it also uses for ground strikes – at Kramatorsk, which had a population of 150,000 before the war.

Moscow maintains that it targets only military facilities in Ukraine.

"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.

In the Ukrainian-controlled town, where Russian strikes also hit homes, shops, a post office and other buildings, "rescue workers removed another body" on Thursday morning, bringing the death toll to 12, according to Kyiv's Interior Minister Igor Klymenko.

Three children were among the dead but the number of wounded varied, with Mr Klymenko putting the figure at 65 and emergency services counting 60. Twin sisters aged 14 were among those who died. The wounded included a baby born in 2022.

The emergency services said 11 people had been rescued from the Ria Pizza restaurant, which is popular with soldiers, aid workers and journalists.

Galyna, a military doctor, said she was near the restaurant when it was struck.

Twin sisters Yulia and Anna Aksenchenko, 14, were killed in the Russian attack on Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. Photo: Department of Education of the Kramatorsk City Council

"We were in an apartment and we heard an explosion," she said, adding there were numerous wounded inside.

"It's horrible and very sad, but I am not surprised that a missile arrived here. It was a place where you could come and have a delicious lunch and coffee.

"I myself have sat there more than once."

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that three Colombians were injured in the strike: decorated writer Hector Abad Faciolince, former Colombian peace negotiator Sergio Jaramillo and journalist Catalina Gomez.

He said on Wednesday that Bogota would be sending a note of diplomatic protest to Russia over the incident.

The tragedy came as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the Russian president had been weakened by mercenary group Wagner's aborted rebellion.

Rescuers at the site of the rocket strike in downtown Kramatorsk. EPA

Days after Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's aborted rebellion – widely seen as the biggest threat to Kremlin authority in decades – Mr Scholz said it would "surely have long-term consequences in Russia".

"It shows that the autocratic structures, the power structures, have cracks and he in no way sits as firmly in the saddle as he always claims," he told public broadcaster ARD.

"But I don't want to take part in speculation about how long he'll stay in office – it could be a long time or short, we don't know."

In Washington, US President Joe Biden said it was too early to tell whether Mr Putin had been weakened by the Wagner group's mutiny.

"It's hard to tell," Mr Biden said on Wednesday. "But he's clearly losing the war" in Ukraine and "he's losing the war at home".

In a meeting with the head of the southern Russian province of Dagestan, parts of which were broadcast on state television, Mr Putin on Wednesday said that he "didn't doubt" that he had the support of Russians during the mutiny.

A feud between Wagner and the Russian army had been simmering for months, with Mr Prigozhin making increasingly scathing statements against the generals' handling of the offensive in Ukraine, blaming them for thousands of Russian losses.

According to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday, Mr Prigozhin planned to detain the heads of the Russian military in the mutiny, but they discovered his intended rebellion early and avoided capture.

Kyiv said the mutiny's influence on fighting was minimal.

"Unfortunately, Prigozhin gave up too quickly. So there was no time for this demoralising effect to penetrate Russian trenches," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN.

The conflict is now in its 16th month, with mass casualties on both sides and a rising civilian toll.

A day after Belarus welcomed Mr Prigozhin into exile, Polish President Andrzej Duda warned that the presence of Wagner troops in the Moscow-allied neighbour could pose a threat to the region.

"It is difficult for us to exclude today that the presence of the Wagner Group in Belarus could pose a potential threat to Poland, which shares a border with Belarus, a threat to Lithuania ... as well as potentially to Latvia," Mr Duda said during a visit to Kyiv.