Ukraine war: NATO warns Minsk and Moscow, Kramatorsk restaurant strike, Kyiv yet to use main troops

At least nine people were killed and 56 injured in a Russian strike on a popular restaurant in Kramatorsk on Tuesday. 

Three children are among the dead in the attack on the only major city in eastern Ukrainian controlled by Kyiv, 

“Rescuers are digging through the rubble of the destroyed building and looking for people,” the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Telegram said. 

The strike destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant in the city centre, popular with journalists and soldiers.

Three Colombians, famous writer Hector Abad, politician Sergio Jaramillo and journalist Catalina Gomez were slightly injured while having dinner in the restaurant with the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, according to a press release.

NATO is ready to defend itself against any threat from "Moscow or Minsk", said Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday.

The NATO Secretary General made the comments after Belarus announced it would welcome Wagner's boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, following his weekend mutiny. 

Stoltenberg suggested the US-alliance would beef up its defences during an upcoming summit in Lithuania, in order to protect all its members, particularly those bordering Russia and Belarus.

"It is too early to make a final judgment on the consequences of Prigozhins installation in Belarus and on the very probable presence also in Belarus of part of its forces," Stoltenberg told the press.

"What is crystal clear is that we have sent a clear message to Moscow and Minsk: NATO is here to protect every ally and every bit of NATO territory," he continued. 

“So there is no room for a misunderstanding in Moscow or Minsk about our ability to defend the allies against any potential threat.”

The recapture of several villages occupied by Russia was "not the main event" of