Russian missiles struck a busy restaurant in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday night. Authorities on Wednesday report that the death toll has risen to nine dead, among whom were three children. At least 56 were wounded.

"Search and rescue operations and debris removal are ongoing," Ukraine's state emergency service said, "the bodies of 9 dead people -- including 3 children -- were retrieved from under the rubble."

"As of 07:00 (0400 GMT) on June 28, the bodies of eight dead people (including three children, two of them born in 2008 and 2011) were unblocked from under the rubble of the destroyed cafe building," the State Emergency Service of Ukraine stated.

Preliminary assessments by local officials after the strike saw that dozens were wounded or trapped under rubble. After a night of a desperate search and rescue mission, the death toll became even more grievous.

Governor of the eastern Donetsk region Pavlo Kyrylenko, where the Russian missiles struck, described the attack as "two rockets were fired at the city of Kramatorsk,” and the target was “a food establishment in the centre of the city where there were a great number of civilians."

Immediately after the attack, an AFP journalist asked an employee of the Ria Pizza restaurant that was hit, and the cook stated there were "quite a lot of people" inside the pizzeria at the time of the strike. Kramatorsk is 18 miles from the frontline and considered one of the last major cities under Ukrainian control in the east of the country.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky discussed an armed rebellion staged by the Wagner group, which analysts have said will have far-reaching consequences, in particular regarding Moscow’s troops in Ukraine. The mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin captured several Russian cities to “hold accountable” top military leadership.