Ukraine arrests man accused of directing missile strike on pizza parlour

Ukraine’s counterintelligence service has arrested a man it accuses of helping Russia direct a missile strike at a popular pizza restaurant.

The attack killed at least 11 people, including three teenagers, at the restaurant in a city in east Ukraine.

The Tuesday evening attack on Kramatorsk wounded 61 other people, Ukraine’s National Police said.

It was the latest bombardment of a Ukrainian city, a tactic Russia has used heavily in the 16-month-old war.

There has been no apparent military push by Ukraine to exploit that turmoil, though the government has been tight-lipped about recent battlefield developments as it seeks to gain momentum in its recently launched counteroffensive.

The Kremlin reeled from the weekend mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner private army of prison recruits and other mercenaries.

Wagner has played a key combat role for Russia in Ukraine. The rebellion posed the most serious threat so far to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.

Trying to repair the damage to his authority, Mr Putin met with military staff in the Kremlin on Tuesday and flew to the Caspian city of Derbent, in the mostly Muslim region of Dagestan, on the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha on Wednesday.

He visited an ancient citadel and a historic mosque, met with officials, and walked to cheering crowds next to a fountain, talking to people and shaking hands — rare behaviour for the secretive and reserved Russian leader.

Mr Prigozhin went into exile in neighbouring Belarus on Tuesday, according to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, after Russia said he would not face charges for the revolt. Mr Prigozhin’s whereabouts could not be independently confirmed.

Mr Lukashenko has said his country would allow Wagner to set up a temporary camp in Belarus, but it remained unclear how many mercenaries would move there.

He said the group’s mercenaries probably would not go there in significant numbers, and added that Ukraine’s military believes security along the Belarusian border will remain “unchanged and controllable”.

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the unrest had weakened Mr Putin, though he added that it is “hard to tell” to what extent.

“He’s clearly losing the war in (Ukraine),” Mr Biden said. “He’s losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world.”

In Kramatorsk, two sisters, both age 14, died in the attack, the city council’s educational department said.

“Russian missiles stopped the beating of the hearts of two angels,” it said in a Telegram post.

The other dead teenager was 17, according to prosecutor general Andrii Kostin.

The attack also damaged 18 multistorey buildings, 65 houses, five schools, two kindergartens, a shopping centre, an administrative building and a recreational building, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Officials initially blamed Tuesday’s strike in Kramatorsk on an S-300 missile, a surface-to-air weapon that Russia’s forces have repurposed for loosely targeted strikes on cities, but the National Police later said Iskander short-range ballistic missiles were used.

Kramatorsk is a front-line city that houses the Ukrainian army’s regional headquarters. The pizza restaurant was frequented by journalists, aid workers and soldiers, as well as local residents.

The Security Service of Ukraine said the man it detained, an employee of a gas transportation company, is suspected of filming the restaurant for the Russians and informing them about its popularity.

It provided no evidence for its claim. Russia has insisted during the war that it does not aim at civilian targets, although its air strikes have killed many civilians. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated that claim on Wednesday.