Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 47,549
Thanks: 27,621
Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts
|
re: PUTINS' WAR-UK & US Investigate Use of Chemical Weapons-Russian Warship Explodes
Russia Accused of Monstrous WAR CRIME in Kramatorsk Station Attack
Zelenskiy Calls For ‘Firm, Global Response’ to WAR CRIME at Kramatorsk Train Station
--Volodymyr Zelenskiy likens missile strike to Bucha atrocities after dozens die at train station where civilians were being evacuated to safety
Civilians Killed as They Tried to Flee- Missile Daubed With FOR THE CHILDREN
--Hundreds of civilians were at Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine when two rockets struck. At least 50 people including five children, who had been awaiting evacuation, were killed. A missile shell found at the site had "for the children" written on it. Pictured below
The Guardian UK 9 APR 2022
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has referred to the missile strike on a railway station in eastern Ukraine as a Russian war crime and said it must be one of the charges to feature at any future tribunal over the invasion.
Five children were among at least 50 people killed when a missile hit Kramatorsk railway station on Friday. The US has also blamed Russia, saying it believes it used a short range ballistic missile. Russia has denied responsibility.
Zelenskiy said he expects “a firm, global response … Like the massacre in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile strike on Kramatorsk must be one of the charges at the tribunal, which is bound to happen,” he said.
Zelenskiy also repeated his call for more weapons to be provided to Ukraine, and for greater sanctions to be imposed on Russia. “The pressure on Russia must be increased. It is necessary to introduce a full energy embargo – on oil, on gas. It is energy exports that provide the lion’s share of Russia’s profits. Russian banks must also be completely disconnected from the global financial system.”
The Kremlin stood accused of carrying out a “monstrous” war crime in Kramatorsk after a Russian ballistic missile hit its crowded train station.
The powerful Tochka-U rocket landed outside the main station building where 4,000 people were waiting to be evacuated. The authorities had urged residents to leave the region before a Russian military assault expected from next week.
At least 87 people were wounded in the strike, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk Oblast. Many lost limbs. Surgeons at the city’s hospital were struggling to cope, with numerous patients in a critical condition, Kyrylenko said.
He said Russia had used cluster munitions, and its goal was to “sow panic and fear” and to kill as many civilians as possible. “The enemy knew that this is a city, that this is a crowd of people, this is a railway station,” he said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, angrily accused Moscow of “murderous deliberate slaughter” and vowed: “We will bring each war criminal to justice.”
At the scene, one woman, Natalia, said she heard a “double explosion”. She told AFP: “I rushed to the wall for protection. I saw people covered in blood coming into the station and bodies everywhere on the ground. I don’t know if they were injured or dead.”
Another woman said she was looking for her husband. “He was here. I can’t reach him,” she said.
A video shot in the seconds after the explosion revealed a scene of horror. Bodies lay in the station entrance and between a row of outside seats. There were screams and cries for help. “My lord, so many corpses,” one woman said.
The dead lay next to their luggage, which had been packed for a journey that was meant to take them to the west of the country and to safety. A turquoise pram was abandoned, together with carry-on suitcases and travel pillows. Pools of blood stained the ground.
In a post on his Telegram channel, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said “Russian monsters” were responsible for the carnage. He suggested it was part of a deliberate Russian strategy to destroy civilian targets, including hospitals and schools.
“[They] have not abandoned their methods. Lacking the strength and courage to fight with us on the battlefield, they are cynically destroying the civilian population,” Zelenskiy wrote, posting photos from the scene.
He added: “This is an evil that has no limits. And if it is not punished, it will never stop.” He said no Ukrainian troops were at the station when it was hit.
|