STORY: Russian forces struck a civilian evacuation centre in Kramatorsk on Sunday (September 20), setting the facility ablaze.

As evacuees from frontline communities prepared to travel to safer areas, civilians fleeing fighting in the Donetsk region, the centre, a former nursery used as a transit hub, was engulfed in flames.

Medics and volunteers carried an injured man on a stretcher to an evacuation vehicle while smoke billowed from the burning building.

Oksana Reva, a worker at the facility, said the hub was being used to receive evacuees and transfer them onward to Lozova in the neighbouring Kharkiv region and elsewhere.

One evacuee from the frontline town of Druzhkivka said he and others had arrived only hours earlier and were struck by debris when the attack hit. There was no immediate official statement on the strike.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: KRAMATORSK, DONETSK REGION, UKRAINE (SEPTEMBER 20, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. NURSERY TURNED EVACUATION HUB FOR CIVILIANS IN FLAMES AFTER RUSSIAN STRIKE

2. FRONTLINE EVACUEE TEMPORARILY STAYING AT EVACUATION HUB, LYING ON GROUND

3. MEDIC AND RESIDENTS OF HUB HELPING RESIDENT ON GROUND ONTO STRETCHER

4. MEDIC AND RESIDENTS LIFTING MAN ONTO STRETCHER

5. MEDIC AND RESIDENTS CARRYING MAN INTO EVACUATION VEHICLE

6. EVACUATION VEHICLE, SMOKE RISING FROM HUB

7. FRONTLINE EVACUEE TEMPORARILY STAYING AT EVACUATION HUB, INSIDE VEHICLE

8. EVACUATION HUB ON FIRE

9. FORMER NURSERY WORKER, NOW EVACUATION HUB WORKER, OKSANA REVA, 44 YEARS OLD, TALKING ON PHONE, SAYING (Ukrainian): "My nursery just burned down. There was a direct hit. Lena, I need you to evacuate these people." / EVACUEE FROM DRUZHIKVA WHO ARRIVED TODAY, VYACHESLAV MANOLIN, 52 YEARS OLD, REFERRING TO RESIDENT OF EVACUATION HUB (Russian): "He was also supposed to go to Lozova. Number 9, and there was a woman that was supposed to go too. She's the administrator (points at Reva)." / REVA WALKING TO MEDIC

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FORMER NURSERY WORKER, NOW EVACUATION HUB WORKER, OKSANA REVA, 44 YEARS OLD, SAYING:

"This was a transit hub, we were sending people further to Lozova (in Kharkiv region). Evacuees were being brought here. Right now, we have people from Druzhkivka (frontline town) who were supposed to leave. We're now going to try to send them to saver places."

11. REVA TALKING TO MEDIC, SAYING NO-ONE IS MISSING, MEDIC SAYING THEY CHECKED EVERY SHELTER

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) EVACUEE FROM DRUZHIKVA, VYACHESLAV MANOLIN, 52 YEARS OLD, SAYING:

"We arrived today in the morning, the guys brought us here. Then they brought more people, and 11 people left for Dnipro, and we were left. When it (bomb) is far away you can here it, but when it's this close, right here..."

13. VARIOUS OF EVACUATION HUB ON FIRE

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) EVACUEE FROM DRUZHIKVA, VYACHESLAV MANOLIN, 52 YEARS OLD, SAYING:

"In Druzhkivka, we distinguished everything - what is flying, how, whether is far or not. But here, we just... Jesus Christ, I just earlier said thank God we arrived and it was calm, and then just 'here you go'. We were outside, and we were hit by rubble, here in the face, nothing serious."

15. SMOKE RISING

16. MEDIC SAYING (Ukrainian): "A lot of drones are in the air, we cannot have people gathered in one place. If they say how many people are here right now, they're gonna strike again."

17. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GOING TO SHELTER

18. LOCAL RESIDENT, MAKSYM BILYAYEV, 28 YEARS OLD, AND OTHER RESIDENT WALKING TOWARDS HUB

19. BILYAYEV AND OTHER RESIDENT LOOKING AT UKRAINIAN FLAG HANGING ON DAMAGED BUILDING

20. BILYAYEV TAKING UKRAINIAN FLAG OFF

21. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LOCAL RESIDENT, MAKSYM BILYAYEV, 28 YEARS OLD, SAYING:

"I took the Ukrainian flag off. (AUDIO OF RUBBLE COLLAPSING) This (flag) is my pride, my glory."

22. DOG RUNNING TO MEDIC

23. CRATER, BURNED OUT HUB

24. VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS HOSING DOWN DESTROYED BUILDING, PLAYGROUND NEARBY

25. EVACUEE GETTING READY TO BOARD VEHICLE, TAKING HER BELONGINGS