Ukraine: Fifty Killed In Train Station Strike As Civilians Flee

• The bombing came as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell were in Kyiv to show solidarity with Ukraine

• Russia’s defence ministry said suggestions that it had carried out the attack on Ukraine were “absolutely untrue”

EDITOR’S PICK 

• Kaduna Train Attack Victim Dies From Gunshot Injury
• Insecurity: Nigerians Leave Their Homes Unsure Of Returning – Wole Soyinka
• ‘Our Policies, Programmes Aim At Nothing But The Betterment Of Nigeria’ – Buhari

EKO HOT BLOG reports that a rocket attack on a train station in the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk killed dozens on Friday, as civilians raced to flee the Donbas region bracing for a feared Russian offensive.

World leaders condemned the attack with US President Joe Biden accusing Russia of being behind an “horrific atrocity” while the French government called it a “crime against humanity” and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described it as “unconscionable”.

Fifty people were killed, including five children, the regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said as the toll rose on one of the deadliest strikes of the six-week-old war.

President Volodymyr Zelensky reported 300 were injured, saying the strike showed “evil with no limits”.

Odessa, fearing an attack on the Black Sea port city, imposed a weekend curfew “given events in Kramatorsk” and the “threat of a missile strike”.

AFP journalists at the scene of Friday’s strike saw the bodies of at least 30 people under plastic sheets next to the station.

There were pools of blood on the ground and packed bags were strewn outside the building where the remains of a large rocket was lying with the words “for our children” in Russian.

“I’m looking for my husband. He was here. I can’t reach him,” a woman told AFP, sobbing and holding her phone to her ear.

Another woman in a state of shock said: “I saw people covered in blood entering the station and bodies everywhere on the ground.”

Body parts, broken glass and abandoned baggage lay scattered around the station and across the platform.

Russia’s defence ministry said suggestions it had carried out the attack were “absolutely untrue”.

FURTHER READING

• Nigeria Lost $1.5bn Worth Of Oil To Vandals In Q1 – NNPC
• Ige’s Murder: I’m Willing To Go To Court, Says Soyinka
• 4 Unhealthy Habits, That Could Make You Look Older Than Your Age

The bombing came as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell were in Kyiv to show solidarity with Ukraine.

Russia faces “decay” because of ever more stringent sanctions and Ukraine had a “European future”, she said at a news conference with Zelensky.

Click to watch our video of the week