Strike kills 50 at Ukraine rail station crowded with people; 67 bodies found in mass grave: Live updates
A rocket strike targeting a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk Friday killed at least 50 people and injured dozens who were attempting to flee amid Russia's new focus on the region, Ukrainian officials said.
Five children were among those killed, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor of Donetsk. In a telegram post, he said 98 people were taken to the hospital, including 16 children. About 4,000 civilians were inside and around the station when it was hit.
Photos from the scene showed luggage and personal belongings scattered across the platform. Bodies were covered in tarps, surrounded by blood. Photos also showed remnants of a rocket with the words “For the children” painted on it in Russian.
The Russians used an SS-21 short-range ballistic missile in the attack Friday on the train station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, according to a senior Defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments.
The official described the station as a major rail hub near in eastern Ukraine in a strategic location. It's the latest humanitarian catastrophe in the country as the Kremin refocuses its attacks on eastern and southern Ukraine.
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The Russian Defense Ministry denied targeting the station in Kramatorsk, a city in part of the Donetsk region that is controlled by the Ukrainian government.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said thousands of people were present in the station, which was being used to evacuate civilians, and called Russia an "evil without limits" that needed to be punished before more civilian attacks.
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Latest developments
►Britain on Friday joined the U.S. in sanctioning the adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin with asset freezes and travel bans in an effort to target the “lavish lifestyles of the Kremlin’s inner circle.”
►The European Union’s ambassador to Ukraine has returned to the nation’s capital, Kyiv, signifying improved security in the area. E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced the news Friday in Kyiv where he joined E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for talks with Zelenskyy.
►Ten humanitarian corridors across three regions opened Friday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement.
►On Thursday, the U.N. General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the organization’s Human Rights Council as evidence of atrocities by the Russian military in Ukraine mounts. The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.
►U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “probably given up” on his efforts to capture Kyiv, noting Russia’s shifted focus to eastern and southern Ukraine
►The U.K. Defense Ministry said Russian forces have now fully withdrawn from northern Ukraine to Belarus and Russia.
Ukrainian official: 67 bodies in mass grave near church
The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office says approximately 67 bodies were buried in a mass grave near a church in Bucha, a northern Kyiv suburb where journalists and returning Ukrainians discovered scores of bodies on streets and elsewhere after Russian troops withdrew.
Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said Friday that 18 bodies had been located so far, 16 with bullet wounds and two with bullet and shrapnel wounds. Two were women and the rest were men, she said.
“This means that they killed civilians, shot them,” Venediktova said, speaking as workers pulled corpses out under spitting rain. Black body bags were laid in rows in the mud.
The prosecutor general’s office is investigating the deaths, and other mass casualties involving civilians, as possible war crimes. Venediktova said the European Union is involved in the investigation and “we are coordinating our actions.”
Russian attack on Kramatorsk train station condemned
After a rocket strike killed dozens at a train station in eastern Ukraine, global leaders and groups took to social media to condemn Russia and the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the strike and said Ukraine expects a tough global response.
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” he said during his nightly video address to the nation Friday.
The president told Ukrainians that great efforts would be taken “to establish every minute of who did what, who gave what orders, where the missile came from, who transported it, who gave the command and how this strike was agreed,” so that those behind the attack would be held responsible.
The White House similarly condemned the attack and said the U.S. would support efforts to investigate it.
“Where we are now is we’re going to support efforts to investigate the attack as we document Russia’s actions, hold them accountable,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters, calling the strike "another horrific atrocity."
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the E.U. Commission, called the attack “despicable.” . “The missile attack this morning on a train station used for evacuations of civilians in Ukraine is despicable,” von der Leyen said. “I am appalled by the loss of life and I will offer personally my condolences to President (Zelenskyy).”
European Council President Charles Michel echoed that response, noting it was “horrifying” to see Russia strike a station being used by civilians to evacuate. He called for action and noted that additional sanctions and weapons to Ukraine were underway.
UNICEF, which offers humanitarian aid to children in crisis, said it “strongly condemns” the attack and that the “killing of children must stop now.”
“This was a deliberate slaughter,” said Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs.. “We will bring each war criminal to justice.”
Russia denied responsibility for the attack.
— Ella Lee and Christal Hayes
Ukraine has 'eradicated' more Russian units as Kremlin losses mount
Ukrainian forces have “eradicated” some of the Russian units that invaded the country in late February, according to a senior Defense official.
Russian troops retreated completely from areas around the capital of Kyiv earlier this week and returned to Belarus and Russia where they are being reconstituted, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments.
Some Russian units have only a handful of troops and vehicles left, the official said. Some of the depleted units will be combined, others may be reconstituted with draftees. The process is not expected to be speedy, the official said.
The combat force that Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed to invade Ukraine has lost more than 15% of its strength, the official said.
The Russians have shifted their attacks to eastern and southern Ukraine, the official said. The Russians appear to be aiming to trap Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country. The official described the combat there a “knife fight.”
Shipments of anti-armor missiles, kamikaze drones and other weapons continue to flow into Ukraine, the official said. Small-arms ammunition is a critical need that is being filled with millions of rounds, the official said.
— Tom Vanden Brook
US to send air defense system, troops to Slovakia
The Pentagon will send a Patriot air defense system and troops to Slovakia to replace S-300 anti-aircraft missiles it is sending to Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement Friday.
Slovakia and other NATO allies on the alliance’s eastern edge operate the Russian-made S-300 missile system. Ukraine’s military has experience operating the system and has used it down Russian warplanes. Russia has failed to gain air superiority over Ukraine since its Feb. 24 invasion began.
“It’s a strong testament to how determined Ukraine’s neighbors are to help the Ukrainians defend themselves against Russia’s unprovoked invasion of their homeland,” Austin said.
— Tom Vanden Brook
UN: World food prices reach highest levels ever due to war
World food commodity prices reached their highest levels for the second month in a row, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said in a Friday report.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 159.3 points in March, about 13% up from February’s index level – already the highest level since the U.N. began tracking food prices with the index in 1990.
The agency credited ongoing war in the Black Sea region for the rising prices, noting the markets for staple grains and vegetable oils were particularly affected.
Over the last three years, Russia and Ukraine together accounted for 30% and 20% of global wheat and maize exports, respectively, according to the U.N.. The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index increased more than 23% in March, largely because of rising costs for sunflower seed oil, of which Ukraine is the world’s leading exporter.
— Ella Lee
Landmines in Sumy region recently retaken by Ukraine, regional governor says
The Sumy region was retaken by Ukrainian forces but is still littered with landmines, regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said Thursday evening. He warned the region’s territory is not yet safe and discouraged people from driving and using forest roads.
“If you smell explosions (and there are a lot of them these days) — the riflemen and explosive ordnance disposal technicians are working,” he said. “They are removing ammunition that the Russian troops lost on our soil.”
Russian forces had been using banned antipersonnel landmines in the Kharkiv region, Human Rights Watch reported last month. These mines cab "indiscriminately kill and maim people within an apparent 16-meter range."
LAND MINES:Russians leave deadly land mines behind as troops withdraw in Ukraine
The 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty banned the use, creation, stockpiling and transferring of antipersonnel mines, but Russia did not sign the treaty. The U.S. and China are also not parties of the treaty.
— Ella Lee
Pink Floyd releases album 'Hey Hey Rise Up' to help Ukraine
Pink Floyd released its first new music in almost three decades to raise money for the people of Ukraine, the band announced Thursday.
“Hey Hey Rise Up” features Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason, with vocals from Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the band BoomBox.
The track features Khlyvnyuk singing a patriotic Ukrainian song from a clip he recorded in front of Kyiv’s St. Sophia Cathedral and posted on social media.
Gilmour, who performed with BoomBox in London in 2015, said the video was “a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music.”
After Russia’s invasion, Khlyvnyuk cut short a tour of the U.S. to return to Ukraine and join a territorial defense unit. Gilmour said he spoke to Khlyvnyuk, who was recovering in a hospital from a mortar shrapnel injury, while he was writing the song. He said: “I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing. We both hope to do something together in person in the future.”
— Associated Press
UN humanitarian chief 'not optimistic' about ceasefire
The United Nations’ humanitarian chief is “not optimistic” that a ceasefire will be reached amid mounting evidence of atrocities by the Russian military in Ukraine.
Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths told the Associated Press on Thursday the two sides “have very little trust in each other.” The two countries staged peace talks last week in Turkey but largely failed to produce a breakthrough — Russian President Vladimir Putin tampered expectations even before negotiations began.
On Thursday, both the U.S. and European Union escalated punishments on Russia: the U.S. Senate unanimously in favor of banning the importation of oil from Russia and ending normal trade relations with the country, while European Union nations agreed to new sanctions on Russia that include a ban on importing its coal.
The U.N. General Assembly also approved a U.S.-initiated resolution to suspend Russia from the world organization’s Human Rights Council amid mounting evidence of atrocities by the Russian military in Ukraine. The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.
"War criminals have no place in UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights," Ukraine Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya tweeted after the vote. "Grateful to all member states which supported the relevant UNGA resolution and chose the right side of history."
Russians eye Donbas region in 'the next pivotal battle of the war'
As they departed Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, Russian forces left behind a path of terror after weeks of siege: crushed buildings, streets littered with destroyed cars and residents in desperate need of food and other aid. And yet, the Russians wound up retreating after facing fierce resistance on the battlefields.
Now that Moscow is shifting its offensive toward the Donbas region in the east, what can be expected in Ukraine's industrial heartland?
Ukrainian and Western officials say the Russians plan to encircle tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops in Donbas by moving from Izyum, near Kharkiv in the north, and from besieged Mariupol in the south. The timing will depend on how quickly Russia can take the southern port city, which has been reduced to rubble after weeks of bombardment but has yet to fall to the invading forces. Russia also needs to replenish the troops that were pulled back from Kyiv and other areas in the north.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in an analysis that the Russian troops will likely try to advance from Izyum to capture the strategic city of Slovyansk and link up with other Russian forces in Donbas in what it said: “Will likely prove to be the next pivotal battle of the war in Ukraine.”
Injured Fox News correspondent 'lucky to be here,' remembers colleagues slain in Ukraine
Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall shared his first update on social media since he was injured last month in Ukraine, and paid tribute to two colleagues who were killed in the attack.
"To sum it up, I've lost half a leg on one side and a foot on the other. One hand is being put together, one eye is no longer working, and my hearing is pretty blown, but all in all I feel pretty damn lucky to be here - and it is the people who got me here who are amazing!" Hall said on Twitter with a photo of himself on a stretcher in a since-deleted tweet.
Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, journalist Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshynova and Hall were traveling in a vehicle in Horenka, a village nearly 20 miles from Kyiv, when they were struck by incoming fire March 14. Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova were killed. Hall was evacuated days later.
Hall said for Zakrzewski, "working was his joy and his joy was infectious."
— Jeanine Santucci
Contributing: The Associated Press