Did Russia strike a secret NATO base hosted in a hotel in the city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine? No, that's not true: widespread media coverage and drone footage show that Russian missiles hit a crowded restaurant, leading to the death of dozens of civilians.
The story appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok by user @pichaku.picaku on June 29, 2023. The caption read:
Kramatorsk - Ukraine. NATO operations base attacked by Russia
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Jul 7 13:26:52 2023 UTC)
The user claims, in the video caption on and within the footage, that Russian forces attacked a NATO base for military personnel in Kramatorsk, while the Spanish news anchor's voiceover is saying a hotel attacked by the Russians was housing mercenaries and foreign volunteers that aided the Ukrainian Army.
However, widespread media coverage and drone footage has shown that Russian missiles hit a restaurant in which dozens of civilians were killed near Hotel Kramatorsk, including two sisters aged 14 and 17.
Russia's assertion that it exclusively targets military installations and avoids attacking civilian sites since the war's onset has been refuted, as evidenced by the latest strike.
