Lying on a hospital bed, Mykyta’s face and body are streaked with wounds from missile shrapnel. Tuesday evening, he dined in the restaurant targeted by a Russian strike in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine.
He was seated around 7:30 p.m., with friends, in this popular establishment in the city center, the Ria Pizza, explained Thursday to AFP in a low voice the young man, aged 23.
“We came there every evening. It was as if we were at home,” he said, without giving his activity but specifying that he was a civilian.
“We heard a whistle like a plane in flight. Then someone shouted, Everybody get down! As we were lying on the ground, there was an explosion and I don’t remember. nothing” just after, says the injured.
When he came to, Mykyta saw people running towards a basement, before trying to clear an escape route as a fire broke out.
“With a friend, I cleared the way, throwing the furniture so they wouldn’t catch fire,” he recalls.
After managing to escape from the restaurant, he said he assisted the injured, but then felt unwell and was taken to hospital.
According to the latest report given Thursday by the Ukrainian authorities, the bombardment on the restaurant left 12 dead and 65 injured.
Mykyta was slightly injured by missile shrapnel, he suffers bruises and a concussion.
“Those who were sitting at the table with me are all alive, they were only injured by shrapnel,” he said. “But some of the dead, the restaurant staff, are also my friends, I knew them all very well.”
Thursday afternoon, in front of the establishment, employees organized a ceremony to pay tribute to their seven colleagues killed – including four young women -, in front of their portraits surmounted by candles, noted AFP.
On his hospital bed in Kramatorsk, Mykyta says he now feels animated by a “fighting spirit”.
“I feel hatred for (the Russians) because they are perpetrating a genocide against the Ukrainian people”, launches the young man.
Kramatorsk hospitals received dozens of injured. The most serious cases were then transferred to Dnipro (center-east), 250 km away, including a 9-month-old baby suffering from head trauma.
“There are no foreign patients in our department… There were some, but they all received first aid and were sent to Dnipro,” traumatologist Sergiy Fatianov told AFP.
The most common injuries are craniocerebral and spinal injuries, and multiple trauma from blunt objects, according to the doctor.
According to 58-year-old neurosurgeon Vitaliy Savenkov, about 70 injured people arrived at the hospital at the same time, a quarter of whom were in serious condition.
“I operated on the most seriously injured victim,” he said, citing the name of Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina.
Ms. Amelina was hospitalized in Dnipro for “multiple basal skull fractures (…) She is currently in the intensive care unit. It is not yet possible to make any predictions”, adds Dr. Savenkov.
The Ria Pizza restaurant was popular especially with the military, volunteers and journalists.
The chefs kneaded the pizza dough in front of the customers. Decorated with rows of bottles, the bar only served soft drinks.
The strike also caused damage to surrounding buildings.
Across the street, Volodymyr Kovalenko is repairing his window frames.
The 74-year-old saxophonist told AFP he was playing his instrument on Tuesday night when the missile hit.
It shows paint and plaster stripped from an interior wall and shattered windows in three rooms of his apartment.
“I was sitting there playing the saxophone. There was such a crash that this window fell here”, shows the jazz musician.
“My wife was in the kitchen. She fell. It was impossible not to fall, the effect (of the blast) was so strong,” he told AFP.
“I wasn’t even scared, it was such a shock! The feeling of fear came later,” he adds.
29/06/2023 22:44:06 – Kramatorsk (Ukraine) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP