Ukraine's emergency service, DSNS, shared some pictures of their rescue efforts after last night's attack by Russia on a restaurant in Kramatorsk.

DSNS said that rescuers were sorting through the rubble of the destroyed building and searching for people who were thought to be under the rubble.

Image source, Ukraine's emergency service DSNS

Image source, Ukraine's emergency service DSNS

Image source, Ukraine's emergency service DSNS

The UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) issues daily analysis on the conflict in Ukraine.

In today's update, external, the MoD says on the 22 June Ukraine's forces struck the Chonhar road bridges between the Crimean Peninsula and Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast.

The bridges are one of two main supply routes between Crimea and Kherson, and are the most direct route from Russia's logistics hub serving Dzhankoi and the Zaporizhzhia sector, says the MoD. It adds that Russia is currently defending against a major Ukrainian counter-offensive in this area.

The MoD says Russia "almost certainly" constructed a replacement pontoon bridge within 24 hours - indicating the route is vital to the Russian military.

Image source, .

Volunteers and emergency workers are rescuing people trapped under rubble following a missile attack in Kramatorsk.

At least nine people are dead and 56 injured.

One witness says it was "shocking" to see "all the destruction... in real life".

We’ve got reaction to Russia’s missile strike on Kramatorsk, from an adviser to the Ukrainian defence ministry.

Yuri Sak, told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the only way to stop such attacks was to defeat Russia on the battlefield.

"Ukraine is nowadays a target of missile strikes by the Russian terrorist state pretty much every night,” says Sak.

He calls the Kramatorsk attack “another tragedy” for Ukraine and says it is further proof that his country has to continue to “beat these aggressors on the battlefield”.

“The only way to stop this madness and terror is by liberating Ukraine from these war criminals."

A ninth person has died following the Kramatorsk missile attack, Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs says.

In a post on Telegram, the government department said that so far seven people have been rescued from under the rubble.

"Search and rescue operations and debris removal are ongoing," it added.

Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, says that Ukraine's recent "modest" gains over Russia are simply a “preview” of a much bigger push to come.

Speaking to the Financial Times, external, he says that the country's main counteroffensive event is still to come and that: “When it happens, you will all see it . . . Everyone will see everything.”

Reznikov adds that Ukraine’s main troop reserves are yet to be used.

These include brigades recently trained in the west and modern Nato tanks and armoured vehicles, he says.

The defence minister argues that last weekend's aborted Wagner rebellion displays a "fundamental weakness" in Vladimir Putin's regime in Moscow.

“It’s like a snowball,” he says, suggesting the regime has self-destructive traits: “The bigger it gets, the faster it rolls.”

Image source, Reuters

Belgian freelance journalist Arnaud De Decker told BBC Newshour he was at the popular Ria Lounge restaurant in Kramatorsk just minutes before it was hit.

"There's still people underneath the rubble because it's a big restaurant," he said on Tuesday night.

"Now I can hear people screaming underneath the rubble as rescuers are trying to save them."

He estimated up to 80 staff members and customers were on the restaurant premises at the time of the strike, so feared the casualty number could be "severe".

De Decker described the restaurant as a local "gathering hub" that was also popular with soldiers, journalists and volunteers.

Local authorities say the area had a high concentration of civilians when the missiles hit.

"This is the city centre. These were public eating places crowded with civilians," regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian television.

Three foreigners were injured in Tuesday's Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk, says the head of the Donetsk regional administration.

On Telegram, external, Pavlo Kyrylenko says Russia fired two missiles on the town, hitting a pizzeria and a residential area.

Kyrylenko also told national television that people were visible under the rubble.

Their condition was unknown, he said, but "we are experienced in removing rubble".

This video shows the widespread damage caused by Tuesday evening's missile strike in Kramatorsk.

While alarms ring in the distance, emergency services urgently search for bodies and survivors.

An eyewitness says: "I can't remember anything. I just saw a flash."

Image source, Ukrainian Presidency

In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack on Kramatorsk.

Zelensky said the “act of terror” proves to the world that Russia deserves “defeat and a tribunal” as a consequence of the ongoing attacks on Ukraine.

The president also thanked "everyone in the world who has supported Ukraine and helped "protect its people".

Image source, Reuters

Eight people have been killed, including three children, by Russian missiles that hit the centre of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.

The attack happened at around 19:30 local time (16:30 GMT) on Tuesday.

A restaurant and shopping area were hit in the city, which is under Ukrainian control but close to Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

Two of the children whose bodies were pulled from the rubble were aged 15 and 12. A 17-year-old girl is also reported to be amongst the dead.

Rescuers are continuing to search for people trapped under the debris.

At least 56 others were injured in the strike, according to Ukrainian emergency services.

An eyewitness told the BBC he saw "dead people, people screaming, people crying, huge chaos".

There were also apartment buildings at the epicentre of the explosion, officials said.

Social media and drone footage from the scene show significant damage to the buildings, some of which have been reduced to rubble.

Image source, .

Alex Binley
Live reporter

Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the Ukraine war.

We begin today with news of a missile strike in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

On Tuesday evening, Russian missiles struck a restaurant and shopping area, leaving at least eight dead and 56 injured.

Two children aged 15 and 12 are amongst those killed, and a 17-year-old girl is also reportedly amongst the dead.

Stay with us as we bring you more updates on this and other developments.

Alexandra Fouché
Live reporter

We're going to pause our live coverage of events in Russia and Ukraine. Thank you for joining us on what has been another busy news day. Here's a recap of what's happened today:

• Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko announced earlier that Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was in Belarus where he had started his exile
• Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed Russia's military, and told them they had "stopped a civil war" following the aborted Wagner rebellion; he also stated that Wagner was fully financed by the Russian state
• we still don’t know exactly what will happen to Wagner's mercenaries and to the group's operations in other countries, as they are expected to hand over their military hardware
• in the evening, there was a Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk which killed at at least three people. You can read more on this story here.

Today's live page was brought to you by writers Marita Moloney, Ali Abbas Ahmadi, Charley Adams, Oliver Slow, Ece Goksedef and Marianna Brady, as well as video producer Jack Burgess. The editors were Alexandra Binley, Alexandra Fouché and Brandon Livesay.

Nader Ibrahim & Beverly Ochieng
BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The failed weekend mutiny in Russia is likely to have repercussions for Africa, where Wagner has several thousand fighters based as well as lucrative business interests linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In particular, Wagner has crucial security contracts in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali - and Russia’s foreign minister has sought to reassure them of the status quo.

But at the moment, all Wagner fighters in Africa are paid by a Yevgeny Prigozhin holding company, Lou Osborn from the All Eyes on Wagner Project has told the BBC.

Wagner has a network of companies associated with it - and they have pursued commercial activities, from gold mining to making vodka, in countries where the mercenary group has security missions.

But its security operations are also heavily reliant on support from the Russian defence ministry.

In fact, Wagner and the Russian state are so intertwined in Africa, unravelling them seems a perilous task.

President Putin says Wagner fighters can join the regular army, go home, or head for Belarus.

Analyst Julia Stanyard tells the BBC it is unclear if this will be the case for those in Africa. She suggests there may be “some sort of compromise position whereby Yevgeny Prigozhin, from his current exile in Belarus, will retain control and ultimate responsibility for the Wagner operations in Africa”.

Read the full story here.

What to do with Wagner?published at 21:46 British Summer Time 27 June 2023

21:46 BST 27 June 2023

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

For President Vladimir Putin, this is a tricky one.

Founded in 2014, this private military company has served the Kremlin well, promoting its interests from Ukraine to Syria to the Central African Republic, with scant regard for human rights.

In Ukraine, they have fought hard and well, scoring Russia the nearest thing in months to a military victory with their eventual conquest of Bakhmut.

But Wagner has become synonymous with its maverick leader, the former convict and hot dog salesman Yevgeny Prigozhin, the man who on Friday called on his countrymen to overthrow the military leadership and who sent his troops advancing on Moscow.

The cold fury in Putin’s eyes was clearly visible in his address the next day, branding him a traitor and calling the move a stab in the back.

Yet for many Russians, the Wagner group are heroes - just look at the ecstatic welcome they got in Rostov-on-Don. So Putin has had to find a face-saving formula that spares them the threatened punishment while still neutering them as a future threat.

In practice, that means surrendering their heavy weapons, absorbing some into the Russian army and sending others, along with Prigozhin, to Belarus. Yet somehow, we have probably not heard the last of Wagner.

As we've been reporting, two Russian missiles have struck the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk - leaving an area in ruins.

A rescue operation is under way, with some people being treated by medical teams and others feared trapped under the rubble. At least three people have been killed, according to officials.

Here's what the scene currently looks like - the missiles are said to have hit a busy shopping and restaurant area.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Here are more details on the equipment in the $500m (£392m) aid package for Ukraine that the US announced today, which it says is to support Ukraine’s counter-offensive, strengthen its air defences and generally help "Ukraine push back on Russia’s war of aggression".

The package includes:

• additional munitions for Patriot air defence systems
• Stinger anti-aircraft systems
• multiple rocket systems
• mine-clearing equipment
• artillery
• Bradley and Stryker vehicles
• anti-armour systems
• thermal imagery systems and night-vision devices
• anti-radiation missiles
• precision aerial munitions

Read more here about how much money the US has previously given Ukraine in military aid.

Image source, Getty Images

Danny Aeberhard
Europe regional editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

President Vladimir Putin's most strident critic is kept largely in solitary confinement, communicating with the outside world through lawyers.

Alexei Navalny says he only learnt of the Wagner mutiny during a court hearing in his ongoing trial for extremism.

He thought it was a prank, he writes in a series of tweets, external, before pointing out the irony in the fact it is he who stands accused of trying to overthrow Putin by violent means.

It wasn't the West or the opposition that shot down Russian helicopters over Russia, he goes on, or his anti-corruption foundation that brought Russia to the brink of civil war.

And it's no longer dramatic to proclaim that the president's war in Ukraine could cause the disintegration of Russia, Navalny tells his 2.9 million followers.

It isn't democracy, human rights and parliamentarianism that makes regimes weak and leads to turmoil, he says, but dictators and the usurpation of power: "Always has been."

At least three people have died following the Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, officials say, and 40 have been injured - including a child and three foreigners, says the BBC's Mayeni Jones in Kyiv.

We'll continue to bring you the latest on this as we get it.

We have footage of the aftermath of the attack in Kramatorsk, where at least two people have been killed and 22 injured after a Russian missile attack.