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Ukraine demands tough global response to train station missile strike -Breaking

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© Reuters. A man passes burned cars on the spot of a missile attack at a station at Kramatorsk (Ukraine), April 8, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

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By Oleksandr Kozhukhar

LVIV (Ukraine) – Ukraine demanded more sanctions and weapons after blaming Russia for a missile strike that left at least 52 dead at a station for elderly and children fleeing Russian aggression in the east.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, President of Russia’s eastern region of Donetsk called the attack in Kramatorsk an intentional attack on civilians. According to the mayor of Kramatorsk, there were approximately 4,000 people gathered at that time.

Britain, the United States of America and the European Union all condemned the attack on Kyiv. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission visited Kyiv as a gesture to support Ukraine and speed up its membership.

Zelenskiy, in late Friday’s video, stated: “We expect an international response to this war criminality.”

He said that any delay in providing weapons to Ukraine or refusals can only be interpreted as politicians wanting to support the Russian leadership more then us.

Pavlo KYrylenko, the regional governor, said that the station was struck by a TochkaU short-range ballistic missile. The Tochka U contains cluster munitions. These explode in mid-air and spray small lethal bomblets across a larger area.

Reuters could not verify the events in Kramatorsk.

Moscow’s six-week-long incursion saw over 4,000,000 people flee to other countries, killing or injuring thousands of others, and turning quarters of cities into rubble. Russia was not expecting this.

A 2008 convention bans cluster munitions. Russia is not a signatory, but it has denied the use of such weapons in Ukraine.

Washington was informed by a top defense official that America “is not buying the Russians denials they aren’t responsible” for the attack. He believed Russian forces had used a short-range missile to launch the strike.

RIA News Agency quoted the Russian defense ministry as saying that the missiles claimed to have hit the station were only used by the Ukrainian military. They also stated that Russia’s armed forces did not have any targets in Kramatorsk Friday.

Moscow denied that it targeted civilians, since Vladimir Putin’s order to invade Russia on February 24th in a special military operation called “denazification” and demilitarization of its neighbor.

Western supporters and Kyiv consider that to be a pretext for unprovoked invasion.

Ukrainian officials expect a Russian attempt to take full control of Donetsk or its neighboring Luhansk. Both are held partly by Moscow-backed separatists from 2014.

According to the Kremlin, the “special operation,” which was described as a joint Russian-Russian military/peace negotiators effort that aimed at achieving its goals through cooperation with the Russian military and other peace mediators, could be ended in Friday’s “foreseeable future”.

According to the White House, it will support investigations into Kramatorsk’s attack. Boris Johnson, Britain’s Prime Minister said that this showed how far Putin’s army had fallen.

Pavlo Kiilenko, the head of Donetsk region military administration, said that 52 people were killed in this incident.

OIL AND GAS

It was accompanied by the words “(this (is) for the Children” in its wreckage. Russia accuses Ukraine for killing civilians, including children, in strikes carried out by separatist-held east Ukraine.

Russia’s focus is on the East, but Ukrainian forces claimed late Friday they had repelled seven Russian attacks. The Ukrainian forces destroyed seven tanks and six other armored vehicles as well two helicopters. Reuters was unable to independently verify this.

A forensics team began exchuming the mass grave of Bucha after a partial Russian withdrawal near Kyiv. According to officials, hundreds of civilians were found in the area.

Russia claims that Bucha civilians were executed by its troops in a “monstrous fraud” to justify its military and denigrate it.

Von der Leyen visited the village on Friday and said that it witnessed the “unimaginable”.

Zelenskiy was later given a questionnaire to help them form an opinion on EU membership.

Others were also overcome by the bloc to adopt new sanctions. These included bans on imports of coal and wood and freezing assets of the EU belonging to Putin’s daughters, and others.

Josep Borrell, EU’s chief of foreign policy, said that a possible oil ban will be addressed on Monday. However, he called sanctions on oil “a big elephant” because the continent heavily depends on Russian energy.

Friday’s US sanctions against Russia and its ally Belarus were increased. This restricted imports of fertilizer, pipe valves and other items.

REFRESHING FROM OCCUPATION

Kyiv is seeking heavier arms and has secured on Thursday a renewed commitment by NATO to provide a broad range of weapons.

Slovakia donated the S-300 Air Defense System to Ukraine. Britain will also send 100 Million Pounds ($130 Miillion) of military assistance.

Defense sources claimed the Czech Republic delivered tanks and rocket launchers to Prague and was ready for more.

Residents living in areas north of Kyiv are still trying to adjust to a one-month occupation.

Residents of Yahidne recounted the story of more than 300 victims trapped in their school basement for several weeks. The wall had names and addresses of soldiers who killed or survived.

Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the accounts. Reporters witnessed two freshly excavated graves and bodies covered in white plastic sheets.

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