Ukraine war: Russia kills 22 in missile strikes on rail station
At least 22 people are said to have been killed during two missile strikes on a Ukrainian rail station, as Kyiv marked its 31st annual day of independence from Moscow.
The attack on Chaplyne, 90 miles west of Russian-occupied Donetsk, was announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a video address to the United Nations yesterday.
This comes after he had warned of the risk of “repugnant Russian provocations” by the Kremlin, as Ukraine marked both its independence day and the six-month anniversary of the invasion by Russia.
“Chaplyne is our pain today. As of this moment there are 22 dead,” he said in his evening video address.
On Wednesday, Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kyiv to mark the independence day, as the UK announced it had ended all oil imports from Russia for the first time.
A close aide of the president, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said Russian forces had shelled Chaplyne twice, as footage and images on social media showed charred out vehicles at the station.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, took to Twitter sharing images of the hit on the train station.
He said: “Terrorist Russia keeps killing Ukrainian civilians. At least 15 killed in a Russian missile strike on a train station in Chaplyne, Dnipropetrovsk region. As Zelensky stressed at UNSC: terrorist Russia must be stopped now before it kills more people in Ukraine and beyond.”
“Russia’s missile strike on a train station full of civilians in Ukraine fits a pattern of atrocities. We will continue, together with partners from around the world, to stand with Ukraine and seek accountability for Russian officials,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.
Regional official Olexiy Kuleba also responded to six explosions in Vyshgorod, near Kyiv, saying: “Two impacts were recorded. There were no casualties or injuries among civilians. There were no fires or destruction of residential buildings or infrastructure,” he wrote on Telegram. “The other explosions heard by the residents of the region were ‘the work’ of our air defences,” he said.
On 24 August, Ukrainians marked their independence day from the Soviet Union and the six-month anniversary of the war with a military ceremony.
Despite a curfew, burnt out Moscow tanks were also displayed in Kyiv, as residents enjoyed festivities.