In this photo provided by the National Police of Ukraine, a police officer and a rescue worker walk in front of a restaurant RIA Pizza destroyed by a Russian attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

National Police of Ukraine/AP

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National Police of Ukraine/AP

In this photo provided by the National Police of Ukraine, a police officer and a rescue worker walk in front of a restaurant RIA Pizza destroyed by a Russian attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

National Police of Ukraine/AP

A Russian missile hit a crowded restaurant at dinner time in eastern Ukraine, killing at least eight people, including three children, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday. More than 50 were wounded.

The pizza restaurant in the city of Kramatorsk took a direct hit on Tuesday night and the blast blew out the windows and the walls and brought down the roof. Rescue crews searched through the night and feared more people could be buried in the debris.

The restaurant was popular with local residents and was also a hangout for members of Ukraine’s military, as well as journalists and aid workers.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack, “a manifestation of terror.”

Russia fires missiles at Ukrainian cities behind the front lines almost every night. Kramatorsk is about 20 miles west of Bakhmut, the town the Russians captured last month in the heaviest fighting of the war.

Ukraine began to launch its much-anticipated counteroffensive earlier this month.