Two dead, eight wounded in eastern Ukraine: mayor

KRAMATORSK (UKRAINE) – Russian attacks killed two people and wounded eight in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Saturday, the mayor said, accusing Moscow of using cluster bombs in the attack.

“Russia continues to spread terror,” Oleksandr Goncharenko said in a Facebook post. “Consequences of the shelling of Kramatorsk with cluster bombs: Two people were killed and eight injured, three of them seriously.”

AFP journalists at the scene heard about 10 explosions almost simultaneously just before 4:00 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) and saw smoke over a park in the southern part of the city.

A woman died at the scene of her wounds, they saw.

Shortly thereafter, another round of explosions was heard in a neighborhood two kilometers away. A taxi driver was seriously injured, according to AFP journalists.

“She came to see me briefly. I said goodbye to her, closed the door and a few seconds later I heard the explosions,” said Lena, 46. “I was lucky to be inside with my daughter when all this happened. ”

A UN treaty supported by most Western countries bans the use and proliferation of cluster bombs, which release dozens of tiny explosives and often pose a threat long after a conflict has ended.

Russia and Ukraine have not signed the treaty, and the United Nations has sounded the alarm over Moscow’s alleged use of cluster munitions in populated areas since it invaded Ukraine last year.

The strikes marked the second time Kramatorsk was attacked in a week. One person died and three were injured in a strike in residential buildings on Tuesday.

Kramatorsk is in the eastern industrial region of Donetsk, parts of which including the largest city have been controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists since 2014.

In April 2022, a rocket attack at Kramatorsk railway station killed about 60 people in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the invasion.

Moscow has attempted to conquer the entire region after being declared Russia last year.