At least 11 people have been killed – including children – and 61 injured after a Russian missile struck a pizza restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.
A second missile hit a village on the fringes of the city, injuring five people.
“Russia doesn’t hit civilians only military targets,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told Sky News, while Russian state TV explained the missile attacks, saying they were aimed at “NATO instructors” and that “the objective was achieved”. It presented no evidence to justify that claim.
WARNING: This story contains distressing content
“I ran here after the explosion because I rented a cafe here… Everything has been blown out there,” a woman in Kramatorsk told Reuters news agency.
“None of the glass, windows or doors are left. All I see is destruction, fear and horror.”
Officials said three girls – two sisters aged 14, and a 17-year-old – were among those killed in the explosion.
The city’s mayor, Oleksandr Goncharenko, said the body of a boy was pulled from the rubble on Wednesday morning. He did not give the child’s age.
“It is with sadness and unbearable pain that we report the death of two Aksenchenko sisters, Yuliya and Anna, students of Kramatorsk Primary School No. 24,” the city’s education department said in a statement.
“This year they graduated from the eighth grade, and on 4 September they should have celebrated their 15th anniversary, a Russian rocket stopped the beating of the hearts of two angels.”
Images showed the building reduced to a twisted web of metal beams with rescue teams searching the area for survivors.
The missile strike occurred on Tuesday evening in a busy shopping area – and the pizza restaurant was reported to be popular with journalists.
A freelance journalist said he was in the RIA pizza restaurant 10 minutes before it was hit.
Arnaud De Decker said that an hour after the explosions, he could still hear “people screaming underneath the rubble”.
He shared a photo of his meal on social media about 20 minutes before the attack took place.
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Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said emergency services were trying to establish the total number of casualties.
“This is the city centre. These were public eating places crowded with civilians,” he told Ukrainian television.
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska also condemned the attack.
“Crowded place, evening – enemy do not want normal life in Ukraine,” she wrote on Twitter.
“There are a lot of wounded. It is painful.”
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0:41
Children injured in deadly attack on Kramatorsk
Ukraine’s defence ministry shared footage showing the extensive damage to local buildings and a distressed mother looking for her missing daughter, who she said worked in the restaurant that was hit.
In a statement it said: “Russia is still targeting civilians in Ukraine.”
It said children were among the dead, and an infant was injured in the blast.
Russian missile ‘designed to bring down a plane’ hit pizzeria
Sky News’ international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn said the restaurant was popular with locals and well known to foreign journalists who would often stop there on their way to the frontline.
He said an eight-month-old baby is one of the dozens injured.
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Victim of Russian missile attack speaks
“For some reason, someone in the Russian military thought it would be a good idea to fire an S-300, a surface-to-air missile,” Waghorn said.
“That’s a missile that’s seven metres long, packed with explosives, normally fired from the back of a truck and designed to bring down a plane.
“It’s a pretty accurate bit of ammunition. So they probably knew exactly what they were firing at and unless there was a military justification for attacking a pizza restaurant, which almost certainly there wasn’t, this is an alleged war crime.”
‘Where everybody ate. Where they came to feel normal’
By Katy Scholes, Sky News producer
My Ukrainian colleague sent me a picture on WhatApp, a blown-out building both familiar and unrecognisable. The doors we walked through just weeks earlier had been ripped from their hinges; the windows now great big holes laden with the ordinary things you usually find inside a restaurant.
In a video I saw later, a dusty credit card machine rested on a windowsill and reminded me of the young, smiling staff we got to know.
Pizza RIA wasn’t the only restaurant open in Kramatorsk but it was considered the best one. It had the highest reviews on Google so people flocked there – locals, journalists, and off-duty soldiers.
Back in the early days of the invasion, almost everything in Kramatorsk was closed and most people had left. The city was under direct fire and direct threat.
After the Kharkiv counteroffensive pushed the Russians back out of artillery range from the city, in time, things started to re-open. People came back.
There’s pleasure in watching life returning to a place. That’s what we saw and felt when we worked from Kramatorsk six weeks or so ago, the last time we visited Pizza RIA.
There was a birthday party that day. Women tottered past us in their highest heels and most glamorous dresses clutching silvery gifts. Some held the hands of children as they went by. A kids’ entertainer dressed as a giant teddy bear bumped about with a stitched scar on his forehead – like everyone else in this place, he’d been in the wars.
Kramatorsk is now about 30km from the nearest fighting but the sound of shells is never far. This was a place where people came to feel normal. Pizza RIA was not a military target.
This is a grim reminder that for civilians living near the frontline, there is no escape from the war.
Russia denies targeting civilians
Asked about the attack in Kramatorsk, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said: “We condemn Russia’s brutal strikes against the people of Ukraine, which have caused widespread death and destruction and taken the lives of so many Ukrainian civilians.”
“Strikes are carried out on objects that are connected with military infrastructure in one way or another,” Mr Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
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Russia confirms Kramatorsk strike
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on 24 February last year.
The Russian strikes are among the first since an aborted mutiny at the weekend.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he let the armed march on Moscow by the Wagner mercenaries go on as long as it did to avoid bloodshed, while the group’s boss Yevgeny Prigozhin who led the uprising has said he never intended to overthrow the government.
Russian authorities say they have closed a criminal investigation into the uprising and are pressing no armed rebellion charge against Prigozhin or his followers.
Donald Trump has threatened sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China on his first day in office.
The president-elect, who takes office on 20 January next year, said he would introduce a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico.
Posting on his Truth Social platform he also threatened an additional 10% tariff on goods from China on top of any he might impose as one of his first executive orders.
If implemented, the tariffs could raise prices for ordinary American consumers on everything from petrol to cars and agricultural products.
The US is the largest importer of goods worldwide and Mexico, China and Canada are its top three suppliers according to the country’s census data.
More than 83% of exports from Mexico went to the US in 2023 and 75% of Canadian exports go to the country.
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“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Mr Trump said.
He also spoke against an influx of illegal immigrants heading into the country.
While migrant arrests reached a record high during President Joe Biden’s administration, illegal crossings fell dramatically this year as new border restrictions were introduced and Mexico stepped up enforcement.
Mr Trump added: “Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power… and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
After issuing his tariff threat, Mr Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and they were said to have discussed trade and border security.
“It was a good discussion and they will stay in touch,” a Canadian source said.
Turning to China, the president-elect said he “had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail”.
“Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America,” he wrote.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said there would be losers on all sides if there is a trade war.
“China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature,” embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu posted on X. “No one will win a trade war or a tariff war.”
It is not clear if Mr Trump will actually go through with the threats.
He won the recent election in part due to voter frustration over inflation and high prices.
Mr Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary Scott Bessent – who if confirmed, would be one of a number of officials responsible for tariffs – has said previously that tariffs are a means of negotiation.
Conor McGregor has spoken out after losing a civil rape case as a feminist march was held in Dublin.
The MMA fighter was accused of raping Nikita Hand, who was awarded €248,603 (£206,000) in damages on Friday after a jury at Dublin’s High Court found McGregor assaulted her in a Dublin hotel in 2018.
Posting on social media, the 36-year-old said: “I know I made mistakes”.
It comes as hundreds of people in Dublin staged a demonstration in “utter solidarity” with Ms Hand.
Posting on X, McGregor said: “People want to hear from me, I needed time. I know I made mistakes. Six years ago, I should have never responded to her outreaches. I should have shut the party down. I should never have stepped out on the woman I love the most in the world. That’s all on me.
“As much as I regret it, everything that happened that night was consensual and all the witnesses present swore to that under oath. I have instructed my legal team to appeal the decision.
“I can’t go back and I will move forward. I am beyond grateful to my family, friends and supporters all over the world who have stayed by my side.
“That’s it. No more. Getting back to the gym- the fight game awaits!”
Speaking outside court after the decision, an emotional Ms Hand said the two-week-long civil case had been a “nightmare” but that “justice has been served”.
“It’s something that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life,” she added.
In Dublin on Monday night, a march in support of Ms Hand was organised by the socialist feminist movement group Rosa to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Participants chanted “stand with Nikita” and “no more fear, no more shaming, we reject your victim blaming” as they carried signs and banners through the capital’s streets.
Ruth Coppinger, a councillor and general election candidate, and Natasha O’Brien, who became a public figure after a soldier received a suspended sentence for assaulting her, both spoke at the event.
Ms Coppinger said Ms Hand was “an incredibly brave woman” and that she was watching the event via a live stream.
Ms O’Brien was cheered as she said she’d been “in awe” of Ms Hand’s courage and that Ireland had let out a collective “sigh of relief” after the jury found in Ms Hand’s favour.
McGregor was accused of having “brutally raped and battered” Ms Hand.
She was taken in an ambulance to the Rotunda Hospital the following day where the paramedic who assessed her told the court she had not seen “someone so bruised” in a long time.
Following eight days of evidence, and three days of closing speeches and the judge’s instructions to the jury, the jury of eight women and four men spent six hours and ten minutes deliberating before returning their verdict.
Twelve British soldiers were injured in a major traffic pile-up in Estonia, close to the border with Russia, local media have reported.
Eight of the troops – part of a major NATO mission to deter Russian aggression – were airlifted back to the UK for hospital treatment on Sunday after the incident, which happened in snowy conditions on Friday, it is understood.
Five of these personnel have since been discharged with three still being kept in the military wing of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
The crash happened at an intersection at around 5pm on Friday when the troops were travelling in three minibuses back to their base at Tapa.
Two civilian cars, driven by Estonians, are thought to have collided, triggering a chain reaction, with four other vehicles – comprising the three army Toyota minibuses and a third civilian car – piling into each other.
According to local media reports, the cars that initially collided were a Volvo S80, driven by a 37-year-old woman and a BMW 530D, driven by a 62-year-old woman.
The Estonian Postimees news site reported that 12 British soldiers were injured as well as five civilians. They were all taken to hospital by ambulance.
The British troops are serving in Estonia as part of Operation Cabrit, the UK’s contribution to NATO’s “enhanced forward presence” mission, which spans nations across the alliance’s eastern flank and is designed to deter attacks from Russia.
Around 900 British troops are deployed in Estonia, including a unit of Challenger 2 tanks.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: “Several British soldiers deployed on Operation CABRIT in Estonia were injured in a road traffic incident last Friday, 22nd November.
“Following hospital treatment in Estonia, eight personnel were flown back to the UK on an RAF C-17 for further treatment.
“Five have since been discharged and three are being cared for at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. We wish them all a speedy recovery.”
Defence Secretary John Healey said: “Following the road traffic incident involving British personnel in Estonia, my thoughts are with all those affected, and I wish those injured a full, swift recovery.
“Thanks to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for their excellent care.”