Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed on Thursday that its forces struck a railway station in eastern Ukraine, confirming an attack that Kyiv claims also hit a residential area and killed 25 civilians on the nation’s Independence Day.
According to the ministry’s daily briefing, an Iskander missile struck a military train at Chaplyne station on Wednesday, which was en route to deliver arms to Ukrainian forces fighting in the eastern Donbas region.
According to Ukrainian presidential aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko, 21 people were killed when the strike hit the railway station and set five train carriages on fire, and a boy was killed when a missile hit his home nearby. He said three more bodies were recovered from the rubble on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 25.
According to the Russian ministry, 200 Ukrainian military personnel were killed in the attack.
The reports could not be independently verified by Reuters.
The Chaplyne attack and artillery shelling of frontline towns such as Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Nikopol, and Dnipro came after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned of Russian provocations ahead of Ukraine’s 31st anniversary of independence from Moscow-dominated Soviet rule on Wednesday.
On August 24, it was also six months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, sparking Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Fighting near Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Zaporizhzhia, in eastern Ukraine has emerged as a major source of concern in recent weeks, with Moscow and Kyiv trading accusations of endangering the plant by shelling it.
VISIT TO A NUCLEAR PLANT
The United Nations has called for the area to be demilitarised, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, is attempting to gain access.
Rafael Grossi, the agency’s chief, told a French broadcaster on Thursday that the agency was “very, very close” to being able to travel to the plant, which was captured by Russian forces in March but is still run by Ukrainian technicians.
The Zaporizhzhia plant’s safety systems were activated on Thursday, according to the RIA Novosti news agency, after power outages were reported across large swaths of Russian-controlled territory.
Residents of Chaplyne, located about 145 kilometers (90 miles) west of Russian-occupied Donetsk, grieved for their loved ones amid the rubble of their wrecked homes as rescue operations concluded.
Sergiy, a local, lost his 11-year-old son in the strike. “We looked for him in the ruins and found him here. Nobody knew he was there. Nobody was aware, “As he crouched next to his covered body, he said.
Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians. It has also stated that rail infrastructure is a legitimate target because it transports Western weapons to Ukraine.
Following Zelenskiy’s video message to the UN Security Council about the attack, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted: “Russia’s missile strike on a train station full of civilians in Ukraine fits a pattern of atrocities.”
Moscow also said in its daily briefing that it had destroyed eight Ukrainian fighter jets in strikes on air bases in Ukraine’s Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions. That would be one of Ukraine’s air force’s most significant losses in recent weeks.
Russian missile strikes were reported by Ukrainian regional authorities in the Khmelnytskyi area, west of Kyiv and hundreds of kilometers from the front lines. There was no damage or casualties reported.
MILITARY ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED
As Russia’s ground campaign has stalled in recent months following its troops’ repulsion from Kyiv in the early weeks of the war, it has increased its devastating air campaign.
On Thursday, Yuriy Ignat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, told national television that eight Russian X-22 missiles had hit Ukrainian territory on Wednesday, emphasizing that Kyiv needed more assistance in fortifying its defences.
“With such high-speed missiles launched at air platforms, our anti-aircraft defences do not have the ability to effectively counter these means, which is why we need to strengthen our anti-aircraft defence,” Ignat explained.
Kyiv has repeatedly called for more high-quality Western military equipment to repel Russia’s attack.
US President Joe Biden announced nearly $3 billion in weapons and equipment for Ukraine on Wednesday, bringing his administration’s total military aid commitment to more than $13.5 billion.
Explosions near the Antonivsky bridge across the Dnipro river, a major supply line for Russian troops in the area, were reported near the Antonivsky bridge across the Dnipro river, according to Suspilne TV public broadcaster, citing local sources.
The southern military command of Ukraine also reported missile strikes on the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river crossing, another important Russian supply line in the area.
Reuters was unable to confirm those battlefield accounts.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday increasing the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million, which may support Western estimates of heavy Russian losses during the war.
On Wednesday, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reiterated Moscow’s goal of “denazifying and demilitarising” Ukraine in order to eliminate “obvious” security threats to Russia.
Ukraine and the West have dismissed Russia’s stance as a flimsy pretext for a conquest war that has killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions, destroyed cities, and shaken the global economy, causing food shortages and skyrocketing energy prices.
