‘We hit only military-linked targets,’ Russia clarifies after strike on restaurant kills at least 10

Kremlin clarified on Wednesday that it only hits military-linked targets in Ukraine after a missile strike on a Ukrainian restaurant left at least 10 people dead and wounded more than 60 people.

The Ria Pizza restaurant located in the eastern city of Kramatorsk is popular with military officials, journalists and aid workers, and it was busy with guests when the strike took place.

Ukrainian emergency services later announced that three children were among the dead. Kramatorsk is one of the few cities in Eastern Ukraine still under Kyiv’s control.

Death toll expected to rise

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said, “Strikes are only carried out on objects that are in one way or another linked to military infrastructure."

"The Russian Federation does not carry out strikes on civilian infrastructure," he added.

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The death toll is expected to rise and several people are still feared buried under the rubble. Russia has denied targeting civilian infrastructure in its 16-month-long campaign of “liberating the Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine.”

Ukraine's first lady condemns the attack

Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska condemned the attack through a post on Twitter. "Crowded place, evening - enemy do not want normal life in Ukraine," she wrote in her tweet. "There are a lot of wounded. It is painful," she added.

The city's mayor, Oleksandr Goncharenko, said the body of a boy was pulled from rubble Wednesday morning, without revealing his age.Kramatorsk'seducation department said in a statement, "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."

Ukraine arrests man for aiding Russian attack

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday arrested a man they believe had helped Russians in directing the attack on the restaurant.

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