Around 15 civilians were killed and another 50 injured in a Russian strike on a train station in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday.
Ukrainian and U.S. government officials had warned in recent days that Russia could be planning more brazen attacks in Ukraine for Wednesday, which is Ukrainian Independence Day and marks the six-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Ukraine’s president said the rockets hit the train in the small town of Chaplyne, roughly 90 miles west of Donetsk, the eastern part of the country.
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“Four passenger wagons are now on fire. As of now, at least 15 people have been killed, and around 50 people have been wounded,” he said. “Rescuers are working, but, unfortunately, the death toll could increase.”
Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, told CNN, “The aggressor … proved the expectations that we had and is conducting today missile strikes across the Ukrainian territory,” adding that they had “been receiving warnings about the possibility of massive missile strikes” on Ukraine’s Independence Day for almost a week.
The capital, Kyiv, and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, banned Independence Day events amid the threat of “something particularly vicious,” Zelensky said over the weekend, adding: “One of the key tasks of the enemy is to humiliate us, Ukrainians, to devalue our capabilities, our heroes, to spread despair, fear, to spread conflicts. … Therefore, it is important never, for a single moment, to give in to this enemy pressure, not to wind oneself up, not to show weakness.
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President Joe Biden authorized a nearly $3 billion military aid package to Ukraine on Wednesday in a symbolic gesture honoring Ukrainian Independence Day. The plan was shaped with more long-term goals in mind, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Dr. Colin Kahl told reporters.
