Moscow claims to have “eliminated” 200 reservists at Chaplino station and Kiev increases the number of travelers who died to 25
Wednesday evening’s Russian bombing of the Chaplino train station in the central region of Dnipropetrovsk demonstrated once again that the war in Ukraine is not just being fought on the battlefield. They also measure their strengths on information, with a continuous intersection of conflicting versions and mutual accusations. Not in vain, after Kiev described what happened as a mass murder of civilians that has already claimed the lives of 25 travelers, Moscow came forward this Thursday to ensure it was a successful move against an army convoy that had “eliminated 200 reservists” .
Russia shrugged off the charges after harsh condemnations it received from the international community for an operation that took place on the same day that six months had passed since the start of the invasion and 31 years of Ukraine’s independence. “An ‘Iskander’ missile directly hit a military train at Chaplino station, eliminating more than 200 soldiers from the Ukrainian armed forces reserve,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
According to the Kremlin, the convoy was headed for “combat zones” in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow’s troops are located. Meanwhile, Dnipropetrovsk governor Valentin Reznichenko reported that rescue operations are continuing to find survivors after the projectile hit the train and engulfed four wagons “in flames,” as President Volodímir Zelensky described in a telematics appearance for the United Nations on Wednesday. Security Council.
For Kiev, the version offered by the Kremlin this Thursday is further evidence of its propaganda and disinformation campaign. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko denounced “terrorism in Moscow” by posting on Twitter that “25 civilians have already been killed after a missile was fired” at the Chaplino station, a population of 3,000. The country’s railway company also said 31 people were injured in the attack when several residential buildings were hit.
In any case, the data did not seem entirely clear as the Ukrainian Attorney General’s services spoke of “10 civilians dead, including two children aged 6 and 11, and another 10 injured, two minors”, in and around the station. suggesting there may be other non-civil victims.
What has been shown, as the US warned on Tuesday when it urged its citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible, is that Russia has stepped up its offensive. “The number of bombings on towns and villages increased. In the last 24 hours, the police have registered 58, much more than we normally had,” Evhen Enin, deputy interior minister, stated on Telegram. According to local media, nine regions have been attacked. The raids, although aimed at the districts of Dnipropetrovsk, were also recorded in Khmelnitsky, in the west of the country and far from the front, in the southern city of Mikolaiv, as well as in Kharkov and Donetsk, in the east.
Despite the clash of versions, both the EU and the US were firm in their condemnation of Moscow for the Russian bombing of Chaplino. “Those responsible for terrorism with Russian missiles will be held accountable,” said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, who will chair the meetings of the Foreign and Defense Ministers of the Twenty-seven in Prague next week to discuss the to discuss the crisis. State Secretary Antony Blinken spoke out in similar terms, warning that “the Russian missile attack on a train station full of civilians fits into a pattern of atrocities.”
To ensure there is no impunity, the Ukrainian government is calling for the establishment next year of an international court to try Russian President Vladimir Putin and those responsible for the invasion. “The only option is to quickly hold criminals to account,” Andrii Smirnov, deputy head of the presidential government, told AFP.
About 600 suspects of “crimes of aggression” have been identified so far. But the cases of human rights violations and violations do not stop registering. Just this Thursday, the NGO Human Rights Watch revealed that 689 civilians have died in Ukraine as a result of the “widespread use” of cluster bombs by Russia, the only country in the world to use these types of “unimaginable and illegal” weapons.
In full escalation in Ukraine and as tensions spill over in the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday to increase the number of soldiers in his army by 10%. Under the new order published yesterday by the government, which will come into effect on January 1, the armed forces will have two million troops, including 1.15 soldiers; compared to 1.9 million members five years ago, in 2017.
Excluding civilian personnel, this represents an increase of 137,000 military personnel, or more than a tenth of the current fighting force. The measure, the reasons for which are not explained in the decree, appears to be aimed at countering the numerous casualties registered on the Russian side since the invasion began on February 24. For now, however, the Kremlin has not ordered a general mobilization.
Despite Moscow’s secrecy, a senior US Pentagon official estimated in early August that about 80,000 soldiers under Putin’s command had been killed or wounded in these seven months of war.
The Ukrainian side, which has the military backing of the West, acknowledged the deaths of 9,000 soldiers since the start of the conflict on Monday. However, according to observers, the balance could be much higher.
Source: La Verdad
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