Dozens dead after rocket hits train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine
A train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, used to evacuate citizens, was hit in a rocket attack.
Cody Godwin, Associated Press
Thousands of people waited at a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Friday when a rocket hit killed dozens, including children, and possibly injured hundreds more, Ukrainian officials said.
At least 39 people were killed and between 87 and 300 people were injured, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a Telegram post. Ukrainian officials previously estimated that about 30 people had been killed in the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media that thousands of people were present at the station at the time of the strike.
“The inhuman Russians don’t change their methods. Without the strength or courage to face us on the battlefield, they cynically destroy civilians,” the president said on social media. “This is an evil without borders. And if it’s not punished, it will never stop.”
The Russian Defense Ministry denied attacking the station in Kramatorsk, a town in a part of the Donetsk region controlled by the Ukrainian government. The station was used to evacuate civilians. As of Friday, nearly 4,000 civilians were at the station, according to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, and children were also killed, Ukraine’s National Police said.
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Latest developments
►The European Union Ambassador to Ukraine has returned to the country’s capital, Kyiv, which means improved security in the region. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced the news on Friday in Kyiv, where he was with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for talks with Selenskyj.
►Ten humanitarian corridors in three regions were opened on Friday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement.
►Faced with mounting evidence of Russian military atrocities in Ukraine, the UN General Assembly on Thursday voted to expel Russia from the organization’s Human Rights Council. The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.
►US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “probably abandoned” his efforts to seize Kyiv, noting Russia’s shifted focus to eastern and southern Ukraine
The UN humanitarian chief is “not optimistic” that a ceasefire will be reached amid mounting evidence of Russian military atrocities in Ukraine.
Under-Secretary General Martin Griffiths told the Associated Press on Thursday that the two sides have “very little trust in each other.” The two countries held peace talks in Turkey last week but largely fell short of a breakthrough – with Russian President Vladimir Putin manipulating expectations even before negotiations began.
On Thursday, both the US and the European Union increased penalties against Russia: the US Senate unanimously voted to ban imports of oil from Russia and end normal trade relations with the country, while the European Union nations agreed to new sanctions against Russia, including a ban on the import of its coal.
The UN General Assembly also approved a US-initiated resolution to bar Russia from the world body’s Human Rights Council amid mounting evidence of atrocities committed by the Russian military in Ukraine. The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.
“War criminals have no place in UN human rights bodies,” Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya tweeted after the vote. “Grateful to all member states who supported the relevant UN General Assembly resolution and chose the right side of history.”
Leaving Chernihiv in northern Ukraine after weeks of siege, Russian forces left a trail of terror in their wake: wrecked buildings, streets full of wrecked cars and residents in dire need of food and other assistance. And yet the Russians retreated, having met stiff resistance on the battlefields.
What to expect in Ukraine’s industrial heartland now that Moscow shifts its offensive to the Donbass region to the east?
Ukrainian and Western officials say the Russians plan to encircle tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops in the Donbass, pulling out from Izyum near Kharkiv in the north and besieged Mariupol in the south. The timing will depend on how quickly Russia can take the southern port city, which has been reduced to rubble after weeks of bombing but has not yet fallen to the invading forces. Russia also needs to increase troops that have been withdrawn from Kyiv and other areas in the north.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in an analysis that Russian troops are likely to try to advance from Izyum to capture the strategic city of Sloviansk and link up with other Russian forces in Donbass, saying: ” Will likely prove to be the next decisive battle of the war in Ukraine.”
Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall shared his first update on social media since he was injured in Ukraine last month, paying tribute to two colleagues killed in the attack.
“To sum it up, I lost half a leg on one side and a foot on the other. A hand is being put together, an eye isn’t working anymore and my hearing is pretty shattered, but overall I feel pretty darn lucky to be here – and it’s the people who brought me here that are amazing!” Hall said on Twitter with a photo of herself on a stretcher in a since-deleted tweet.
Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova and Hall were traveling in a vehicle in Horenka, a village nearly 20 miles from Kyiv, when they were struck by a fire on March 14. Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova were killed. Halle was evacuated days later.
Hall said of Zakrzewski, “The work was his joy and his joy was contagious.”
– Jeanine Santucci
Contribution: The Associated Press