Russian forces launched a rocket attack on a Ukrainian railway station that killed at least 15 people and wounded 50 others today – six months to the day since Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of the country, and 31 years after the former Soviet country broke away from Moscow’s rule.
Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN Security Council that a Russian missile strike hit a passenger train and nearby vehicles at the rural train station in Chaplyne, a village near the major city of Dnipro – the scene of intense recent fighting between Ukrainian and Kremlin forces.
The wartime President had previously warned that the ‘erratic’ Russian dictator would use the killing of the daughter of his ultra-nationalist aide Alexander Dugin – dubbed ‘Putin’s Rasputin’ – in a car bombing in Moscow last week as a pretext for further aggression.
While most fighting is now taking place in the east and south, where the fighting has stalled, Russia regularly strikes Ukrainian cities with long-range missiles, according to Kyiv.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region on the southern front earlier today, the Russians again shelled the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, damaging several buildings and wounding two people, authorities said. Russian troops also shelled the city of Zaporizhzhia, but no casualties were reported. Kremlin rockets struck unspecified targets in the Khmelnytskyi region, about 180 miles west of Kyiv, the regional governor said. Attacks there have been infrequent.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Russian forces struck several towns and villages in Donetsk province in the east over 24 hours, killing one person, authorities said. A building materials superstore in the city of Donetsk was hit by a shell and erupted in flames, the mayor said. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson marked Ukraine’s Independence Day with a visit to Kyiv – his third since the war broke out – and other European leaders used the occasion to pledge unwavering support for Ukraine, locked in a battle that was widely expected to be a lightning conquest by Moscow but has turned into a grinding war of attrition.
The US announced a major new military aid package totaling nearly $3 billion to help Ukrainian forces fight for years to come. Independence Day commemorates Ukraine’s 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
Kyiv authorities banned large gatherings in the capital through Thursday, fearing the national holiday might bring particularly heavy Russian missile strikes. ‘Russian provocations and brutal strikes are a possibility,’ Zelensky said in a statement. ‘Please strictly follow the safety rules. Please observe the curfew. Pay attention to the air sirens. Pay attention to official announcements.’ (Daily Mail)
