At least 22 people have been killed and 50 wounded in a Russian rocket strike on a Ukrainian railway station, as the country marked six months since Moscow’s invasion on a sombre independence day overshadowed by warnings of further “brutal” attacks.
Addressing the UN late on Wednesday, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the rockets struck a train in a station in the town of Chaplyne, about 145km west of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
“Rescuers are working, but, unfortunately, the death toll could increase,” Zelenskiy said.
An 11-year-old child died in the attack, said Kirill Timoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, in a message on his Telegram channel.
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Ukraine had been on high alert on its independence day and the six-month anniversary of all-out war with Moscow, as allies hailed its resilience and pledged continued support and the White House unveiled nearly $3 billion (€3bn) in new military aid for Kyiv.
Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of pro-western Ukraine in the early hours of February 24th, pouring troops, tanks, missiles and war planes over the border in a massive escalation of an eight-year conflict between the former allies.
Thousands of civilians have since been killed and millions displaced in fighting and missile strikes across much of Ukraine, but the government has retained control of nearly all its major cities and, with the help of western weapons, its military has limited Russia’s gains in the eastern Donbas area and plans to counterattack to reclaim parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the southeast.
“A new nation appeared in the world on February 24th at 4 o’clock in the morning. It was not born, but reborn. A nation that did not cry, scream or take fright. One that did not flee, did not give up,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a national address.
“We will not sit down at the negotiating table (with Russia) out of fear, with a gun pointed at our heads. For us, the most terrible iron is not missiles, aircraft and tanks, but shackles. Not trenches, but fetters,” he added.
Thirty-one years after Ukraine gained independence from the crumbling Soviet Union and broke free from Kremlin rule, public celebrations were banned due to fears of major Russian missile strikes; Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second city, which is just 35km from the Russian border — was placed under an all-day curfew for security reasons.
Ukrainian officials said Russia struck villages in the Kharkiv region with cluster munitions on Wednesday and hit infrastructure in the central town of Myrhorod with four missiles. Meanwhile, in partly occupied Zaporizhzhia region, a collaborationist local official was reportedly killed by a bomb planted under his car.
The White House announced a new $2.98 billion aid package to “allow Ukraine to acquire air defence systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term.”
“I know this independence day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians ... But six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves, in their country, and in their 31 years of independence,” said US president Joe Biden.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin sent greetings to Ukrainians and said: “You have shown the world how much the freedom of your great country means to you. You are an inspiration.”
British prime minister Boris Johnson paid his latest visit to Kyiv on Wednesday and praised Ukrainians for “fighting with steel and with courage to defend their homes and their families, and to preserve their right to decide their own destiny ... However long it takes, the United Kingdom will stand with Ukraine”.
Western governments and military experts say Russia expected in February to seize Kyiv and establish control over much of Ukraine in a few weeks, if not days.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that Moscow’s military was in fact “doing everything to avoid casualties among civilians. Of course, this slows down the pace of the offensive, but we are doing this deliberately.” - Additional reporting: Guardian
