Russian shelling in the city of Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, hit houses on Saturday, killing at least two people, while rescue teams are searching for a third person in the wreckage, the regional governor announced.

“Rescue crews recovered from the wreckage the body of a woman born in 1977” and a second body, a 23-year-old man, reported regional governor Vadim Filashkin, who had initially spoken of the “possible” entrapment of a family of four in the wreckage.

AFP journalists saw members of the first aid services carrying a body in a body bag and others searching through the wreckage.

“At first I heard a loud hum, then an explosion, the windows and doors of our house were blown away by the shock wave,” said Alexander, 25, a resident of the city.

“I was in the hall playing with my two-year-old daughter and the cat. (The child) was seized with hysteria. We knew the people who lived in the house” that was destroyed, he added.

Dozens of first responders are working at the site of the bombing, removing debris sometimes with their bare hands, sometimes with shovels.

At regular intervals, they turn off floodlights powered by noisy generators to listen, in case they hear some sound that will certify that they are still alive.

A huge crater opened next to the house.

Kramatorsk, the last major city of Donbas under Ukrainian control, is about twenty kilometers from the front.

Since the outbreak of war nearly two years ago, Kramatorsk has been repeatedly attacked by Russian troops. In April 2022, the Kramatorsk railway station was hit by a missile, killing over 60 people. Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for its launch.