Officials in Kyiv reported a Russian missile attack killed 22 civilians and put a passenger train on fire in eastern Ukraine, with missile strikes north of the capital as Ukraine observed its Independence Day under severe shelling.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had warned of “repugnant Russian provocations” ahead of Ukraine’s 31st anniversary of independence from Moscow-dominated Soviet government on Wednesday, and public celebrations had been cancelled.
The occasion also fell six months after Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine, sparking Europe’s most deadly conflict since World War II. Zelenskiy stated in a video statement to the United Nations Security Council that rockets hit a train in Chaplyne, 145 kilometres (90 miles) west of Russian-occupied Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
“Chaplyne is our pain today. As of this moment there are 22 dead,” In a later evening video address, he stated that Ukraine would hold Russia accountable for what it had done. Later, Zelenskiy aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko claimed that Russian forces shelled Chaplyne twice.
A youngster was murdered when a missile hit his house in the initial attack, and 21 people died later when rockets hit the railway station and set fire to five train cars, he added in a statement. The Russian defence ministry did not reply quickly to a request for comment. Russia denies intentionally targeting people.
“Russia’s missile strike on a train station full of civilians in Ukraine fits a pattern of atrocities. We will continue, together with partners from around the world, to stand with Ukraine and seek accountability for Russian officials,” According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Twitter.
Six explosions were also reported during a rocket strike on the Vyshgorod region directly north of Kyiv, but no casualties were reported, according to regional official Olexiy Kuleba.
“Two impacts were recorded. There were no casualties or injuries among civilians. There were no fires or destruction of residential buildings or infrastructure,” on Thursday, Kuleba wrote on Telegram Channel. “The other explosions heard by the residents of the region were ‘the work’ of our air defences,” he explained.
Otherwise, Russia’s military bypassed Kyiv on the Ukrainian holiday and launched artillery attacks on frontline towns like Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Nikopol, and Dnipro, according to Ukraine presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych.
No Public Celebrations
Separately, Kyiv informed international legal authorities of Russian plans to put captured Ukrainian fighters from the Azov Regiment on trial in Mariupol, as described by U.N. officials on Tuesday. After weeks of intensive shelling as Russian forces besieged Ukrainian holdouts at the Azovstal steel complex, the port city succumbed to Russian forces in April.
Presidential adviser Arestovych, Zelenskiy stated that if the trials proceed, Kyiv would “never, ever” entertain peace talks with Moscow. According to US Secretary of State spokeswoman Ned Price, the illegal process would be a “mockery of justice.”
Ukraine declared independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in August 1991, and its people overwhelmingly supported independence in a referendum held in December of same year. Although the August 24 official holiday was cancelled, many Ukrainians celebrated the event by wearing traditional embroidered shirts.
During the day, air raid sirens sounded at least seven times in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, despite the fact that no strikes occurred. Zelenskiy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, attended a service in Kyiv’s 11th-century St. Sophia cathedral, where they laid flowers at a memorial to fallen troops.
Ukraine, according to the 44-year-old leader, will retake Russian-occupied territories of eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, which Russia invaded in 2014.
Missile Strikes Far From Front Lines
According to regional authorities, Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian drone in the Vinnytsia region, while Russian missiles fell in the Khmelnytskyi region, both west of Kyiv and hundreds of kilometres from the front lines. There was no damage or casualties reported, and Reuters was unable to corroborate the reports.
Russia has repeatedly denied that its forces are targeting civilians. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told a gathering in Uzbekistan that Moscow has purposefully postponed what it called a “special military operation” in Ukraine in order to avoid civilian casualties.
On Wednesday, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia repeated Moscow’s reasoning for its activities in Ukraine, saying they aimed to “denazify and demilitarise” the country in order to eliminate “clear” security dangers to Russia. Ukraine and the West have criticised Moscow’s stance as a flimsy justification for an imperialist conquest war.
Increasing Western Support
In Washington’s “largest tranche of security aid to date,” US President Joe Biden announced over $3 billion in weaponry and equipment for Ukraine. Under Biden’s leadership, the US has provided more than $13.5 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. After being driven out of Kyiv in the early days of the war, Russia has made limited inroads in subsequent months.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s top military intelligence official, warned on Wednesday that Russia’s advance was faltering due to low morale and physical tiredness among its forces, as well as Moscow’s “exhausted” resource base.
Russian forces have captured territories in the south, notably those on the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts, as well as vast swaths of the eastern Donbas provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Thousands of civilians have been killed, more than a third of Ukraine’s 41 million people have been displaced, towns have been destroyed, and the world economy has been rattled, causing shortages of critical foodgrains and driving up energy prices.
