Death toll from train station attack in Ukraine rises to 25
A firefighter works to extinguish a fire following recent shelling in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in Donetsk, Ukraine. Reuters
Gulf Today Report
The death toll from a Russian rocket attack as Ukraine observed its Independence Day has risen to 25, including an 11-year-old boy found under the rubble of a house and a 6-year-old killed in a car fire near a train station that took a hit, a Ukrainian official said Thursday.
The deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, provided the updated casualty figures from Wednesday's attack. A total of 31 people sustained injuries, he said.
The strike served as a brutally painful reminder that Russia is capable of employing military force that causes civilians to suffer the most and tests Ukraine's resilience after six months of a grinding war.READ MORE
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The holiday also coincided with six months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, touching off Europe's most devastating conflict since World War Two.
In a video address to the United Nations Security Council, Zelensky said rockets hit a train in the small town of Chaplyne, some 145 km (90 miles) west of Russian-occupied Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks in Kyiv. File photo
"Chaplyne is our pain today. As of this moment there are 22 dead," he said in a later evening video address, adding Ukraine would hold Russia responsible for everything it had done.
Zelensky aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko later said Russian forces had shelled Chaplyne twice. A boy was killed in the first attack when a missile hit his house, and 21 people died later when rockets hit the railway station and set fire to five train carriages, he said in a statement.
The Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia denies targeting civilians.
A Russian missile strikes a passenger train in eastern Ukraine.
"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," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.
On Ukraine's holiday, Russia's military avoided Kyiv and targeted frontline towns like Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Nikopol and Dnipro with artillery attacks, Ukraine presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said.
"Massive shelling of Ukraine on Independence Day," fellow presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak added on Twitter.
Separately, Kyiv submitted information to international legal bodies about Russian plans, described by UN officials on Tuesday, to put captured Ukrainian fighters from the Azov Regiment on trial in Mariupol, officials said.
Smoke billows into the sky following recent shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Wednesday. Reuters
The port city fell to Russian forces in April after weeks of intense shelling as they encircled Ukrainian holdouts at the Azovstal steel plant.
Presidential adviser Arestovych said Zelenskiy made clear Kyiv would "never, ever" consider peace negotiations with Moscow if the trials went ahead.
US Secretary of State spokesperson Ned Price said the unlawful process would amount to a "mockery of justice."
