They had suitcases and bags with them and wanted to flee the expected Russian attack – now on Friday a rocket attack on the train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has killed at least 39 people and injured about 100. The place is located in the Ukrainian administrative region of Donetsk. According to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, thousands are waiting in Kramatorsk to be evacuated and thousands have already fled. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “cynically crushing” Ukrainians, calling the attack “the boundless evil”.
Railroad chief Olexander Kamischyn said two rockets were hit. An AFP reporter at the scene saw at least 20 dead in body bags and under plastic sheeting. Earlier in the morning, he had seen hundreds of people waiting for a train to flee west.
After the attack, burned-out cars were parked in front of the station building, blood pools and charred benches were visible at the entrance and in the station hall. The remains of a rocket with the Russian inscription “For our children” lay in the forecourt of the station. The place was littered with abandoned luggage, broken glass and splinters.
Both sides blame each other
The Ukrainian side blamed the Russian troops. Kyrylenko accused Russia of deliberately attacking civilians. “They wanted to take as many peaceful people hostage as possible, they wanted to destroy everything Ukrainian,” the governor wrote on Telegram. A deleted and restored post should confirm this suspicion (see below). There, a journalist writing for a pro-Russian platform describes the attack as a successful attack on a group of Ukrainian fighters.
On the other hand, the pro-Russian separatists in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic spoke of a Ukrainian missile attack. Parts of a Totschka-U missile fell to the ground. The separatists also announced that an evacuation had just taken place in Kramatorsk and that people should have been taken to safety. People wanted to leave the city for fear of attacks. The defense ministry in Moscow also said the type of missile used in the attack was used only by the Ukrainian military.
Escape from expected large-scale attack
The Ukrainian leadership had previously called on people in eastern Ukraine to get to safety and if possible leave the area to the west. Russia had announced it would target its attacks on the region. Kramatorsk is located in the part of the disputed Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine that is controlled by Ukraine. Pro-Russian separatists claim the entire administrative territory.
Dozens of rocket attacks on military targets
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said 81 military objects had been shelled during the recent air and missile strikes. By comparison, the army reported shelling of 29 objects on Thursday. Among the targets hit were the command and bases of the Ukrainian army, as well as artillery pieces and several rocket launchers in Donbass.
“Near the town of Staraya Zbruyevka, Russian air defenses shot down two Ukrainian Mi-8 and Mi-24 attack helicopters,” he said. In addition, the Russian fleet destroyed a collection and training camp for “foreign mercenaries” near Odessa.
Ukraine: Sumy region “free from orcs”
According to authorities, Ukrainian troops have since regained control of the entire Sumy region on the border with Russia. “The area is free of orcs,” said regional governor Dmytro Schwyzkyj. He used a Ukrainian swear word for Russian soldiers.
The governor warned residents who had fled not to return soon: “The region is not safe. Many areas have been cleared and have not yet been cleared.” The city, 350 kilometers east of Kiev, which originally had a population of 250,000, and the surrounding region were the scene of fierce fighting for weeks.
According to Ukrainian sources, Russian forces are still concentrating on capturing the southern port city of Mariupol. According to the general staff report, Russian forces also targeted an offensive around the town of Izyum in the Kharkov region of the east of the country they occupy. According to information from Kiev, Russia had recently concentrated troops there to advance toward the city of Slovyansk in the Donetsk region. Russian airstrikes and shelling with rocket launchers continued in several cities in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
According to British intelligence, the withdrawal of Russian troops from northern Ukraine has been completed. At least some of these troops will likely be deployed to fight in the eastern Donbass region, the UK Defense Ministry said in a statement on Twitter on Friday.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
