Ukraine war: Russia railway station strike kills 22, injures dozens

BBC News:

A Russian rocket strike on a Ukrainian train station has killed 22 people, Ukraine says, on the day marking six months since Moscow’s invasion began.

It says five of the victims of the attack in the eastern town of Chaplyne burnt to death in a vehicle. An 11-year-old boy was also killed.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the strike in the middle of a UN Security Council meeting. He said about 50 people were injured.

Russia has so far made no comment.

It has repeatedly denied targeting civilian infrastructure.

Mr Zelensky said he learned of the strike on Chaplyne, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as he was preparing to speak to the Security Council, adding: “This is how Russia prepared for the UN Security council meeting.”

“Four passenger carriages are on fire now… the number of fatalities could increase,” he continued.

In April, a strike on another train station killed more than 50 people.

Ukraine has spent Wednesday marking its annual independence day and Mr Zelensky had previously said Russia might do something “cruel” to disrupt the celebrations.

Earlier he accused Moscow’s forces of turning the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant into a “war zone” that endangered the plant and the people of Europe, putting the world “on the brink of radiation catastrophe”.

The UN Secretary General told the same meeting that the “senseless war” could push millions of people into extreme poverty, both in Ukraine and beyond.

Around the world, there were gatherings of supporters in the streets to mark Ukraine’s independence today. World leaders also rallied to support the embattled nation to mark the occasion.