Ukraine and its allies have blamed Russia for a rocket attack that killed at least 52 people at a station full of women, children and the elderly fleeing the threat of a Russian offensive in the east.
As regional authorities tried to evacuate the vulnerable, European Union leaders visited Kyiv to offer support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and speed up Ukraine’s path to EU membership.
Zelensky called the strike at the Kramatorsk railway station in the eastern Donetsk region a deliberate attack on civilians. The mayor estimated that about 4,000 people had gathered there at the time.
District Governor Pavlo Kirilenko said the station was hit by a short-range ballistic missile, Point U, containing cluster munitions that exploded in the air, scattering small deadly bombs over a wider area.
Ukrainian soldiers are helping to transport bodies to a military truck after a rocket attack killed at least 50 people on Friday at a train station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine. (Fadel Senna / AFP / Getty Images)
Reuters was unable to verify what happened in Kramatorsk.
Cluster munitions are banned under a 2008 convention. Russia has not signed it, but has previously denied using such weapons in Ukraine.
In Washington, a senior defense official said the United States “does not buy the Russians’ denial that they are not responsible” and believes Kirilenko has correctly identified the type of missile used in the attack.
WATCH Dozens were reported killed at the station. Warning: This video contains images that some viewers may find embarrassing:
Ukraine says dozens have died in a Russian missile strike on a train station
At least 39 people were killed and 87 injured when two rockets hit a train station full of evacuees in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities said. 4:39
Russia’s Defense Ministry was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency that the missiles allegedly hitting the station were used only by the Ukrainian military and that the Russian armed forces had no targets in Kramatorsk on Friday.
Ukraine expects “firm global response”
Zelenski said in a video address to the Finnish parliament that there were no Ukrainian soldiers at the station.
“We expect a firm global response to this war crime,” he said later in an online speech.
Moscow has denied targeting civilians after President Vladimir Putin ordered the February 24 invasion of Ukraine in what Russia calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “denationalize” its neighbor.
Proponents of Kyiv and the West call it a pretext for an unprovoked invasion that displaced a quarter of the population and killed or wounded thousands.
Ukrainian authorities are now awaiting an attempt by Russian forces to gain full control of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, both partially held by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.
WATCH Ukraine is preparing for a Russian attack in Donbass, NATO is pushing for more weapons:
Ukraine is preparing for a Russian attack in Donbass, NATO is pushing for more weapons
Attention is focused on the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, where there are fears that an impending Russian attack could rival World War II battles. To prepare, Ukrainian authorities are urgently calling on NATO allies for more heavy tanks. 2:25
The Kremlin said on Friday that the “special operation” could end in the “foreseeable future” and that its goals would be achieved through the work of Russian military and peace negotiators.
The White House said it would support attempts to investigate the Kramatorsk attack.
Burned cars were spotted after an attack on a railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, in Ukraine’s Donbass region, on Friday. (Hervé Bar / AFP / Getty Images)
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it showed “the depths to which Putin’s vaunted army has sunk”.
At least 52 people have died in the incident, Pavlo Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said in an online publication.
On the side of the remains of the rocket was the inscription “(this is) for the children”. Russia has for years accused Ukraine of killing civilians, including children, with strikes in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine.
The victims are at the railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk after a reported rocket attack on Friday. (Hervé Bar / AFP / Getty Images)
As Russia concentrated in the east, Ukrainian forces there said late Friday that they had repulsed seven Russian attacks, destroying nine tanks, seven other armored vehicles and two helicopters. Reuters could not verify this.
Following Russia’s partial withdrawal near Kyiv, a forensic team began exhuming a mass grave in the city of Bucha on Friday. Authorities say hundreds of civilians have been found dead there.
Visiting the city on Friday, EU Executive Director Ursula von der Leyen said she had witnessed the “unthinkable”.
She later handed the Green Questionnaire, which is a starting point for the EU to decide on membership, telling him: “It is not a matter of years to form this opinion, but I think it is a matter of weeks.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, walking in the center, walks with Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk, on the left, during a visit to the town of Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital, on Friday. (Valentin Ogirenko / Reuters)
The bloc has also overcome some divisions to adopt new sanctions, including bans on imports of coal, wood, chemicals and other products, along with the freezing of EU assets belonging to Putin’s daughters and other oligarchs.
For weeks, Zelensky has called on Brussels to be tougher on Moscow.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said a potential oil ban would be discussed on Monday, but called the oil sanctions a “big elephant in the room” as the continent is heavily dependent on Russian energy.
Russia denies the Bucha killings
Von der Leyen said the EU should monitor Russia’s attempts to circumvent existing sanctions and impose tougher ones if necessary.
Rescuers were spotted Thursday as they searched the ruins of a residential area in Borodyanka on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. (Anastasia Vlasova / Getty Images)
Russia called the allegations that its forces executed civilians in Bucha a “monstrous forgery” aimed at denigrating its army and justifying new sanctions.
Russian forces have failed to take over any major city so far, facing unexpectedly strong resistance and pursued by, according to Western intelligence officials, problems with logistics, supplies and morale.
Kyiv wants supplies of heavier weapons and on Thursday secured a new commitment from the NATO alliance to supply a wide range of weapons.
Slovakia has donated its S-300 air defense system to Ukraine, while Britain will send another $ 130 million in US military support.
In Prague, defense sources said the Czech Republic had supplied tanks, missiles, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles and would supply more.
Meanwhile, residents of areas north of Kyiv were still coming to terms with the month-long occupation.
In the village of Yahidne, residents said more than 300 people were trapped for weeks in a school basement, with the names of those who did not survive or were killed by soldiers scrawled on the wall.
Reuters failed to independently verify the accounts of the villagers. Reporters saw a freshly excavated grave and two bodies wrapped in white plastic sheets.
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