Kramatorsk, Ukraine
CNN
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A fresh barrage of missiles burst through Kramatorsk city In eastern Ukraine on Thursday, flames and thick clouds hung in the air as screaming citizens scrambled to find shelter.
A CNN team was just on the scene and heard the first incoming strike on Kramatorsk. CNN witnessed the second attack, with two attacks about a minute apart. Two women jumped out of their car and started screaming, while other civilians took shelter wherever they could. Shrapnel hit the blastproof windshield of a CNN vehicle.
Paramedics arrived at the scene to treat at least one injured civilian. The mayor of Kramatorsk, Oleksandr Honcharenko, also confirmed that there had been a strike on the city, and urged residents to stay in bomb shelters.
Moscow’s new attack came after the Russian military targeted a residential neighborhood with an Iskander-K missile on Wednesday, killing at least three civilians and injuring eight others, according to local police. Honcharenko said the condition of two of the injured was serious.
Rescue workers search through piles of rubble to locate survivors after Wednesday’s attack, which damaged eight apartment buildings. Officials also took people to a local school for shelter.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strike and expressed his condolences to the families and friends of the victims.
“This is not history repeating itself; This is the daily reality of our country, ”he said on Telegram.
“A country bordering on absolute evil. And a country that has to overcome this in order to reduce the chances of such tragedies to happen again. We will certainly find and punish all the culprits. They don’t deserve mercy.”
A top Kyiv official said Russia is gearing up for a “maximum escalation” of the years-long war in Ukraine.
“These will be the defining months of the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.
“I know that the main battles are yet to come and they will happen within two to three months this year,” he said.
“Russia is preparing for maximum growth. It is making every effort, practicing and training. When it comes to going on the offensive from different directions, at the moment all I can say is that we are not ruling out any scenario in the next two to three weeks.”