As was feared might happen on Ukraine’s Independence Day, at least 22 people were killed and dozens wounded in a Russian rocket strike on a Ukrainian train station. After days of warnings that Moscow could use this symbolic day to fire more missiles into major urban centers, the second-biggest city, Kharkiv, was under curfew, following months of frequent bombardment.
Zelensky had warned on Tuesday of the risk of “repugnant Russian provocations” on Independence Day, which by chance was also six months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, touching off Europe’s most devastating conflict since World War Two.
In a video address to the United Nations Security Council, Zelensky said the rockets hit a train in the small town of Chaplyne, some 145 km (90 miles) west of Russian-occupied Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Four carriages were on fire, he said.
“Chaplyne is our pain today. As of this moment there are 22 dead,” Zelensky said in a later evening video address, adding Ukraine would make Russia take responsibility for everything it had done. “We will without any doubt evict the invaders from our land. No trace of this evil will remain in our free Ukraine,” he said.
