Ukraine-Russian war live: Horrifying scenes as Putin's evil troops massacre at least 50 civilians at busy train station
AT LEAST 50 people have now been confirmed dead as the Kramatorsk train station attack death toll rises.
The Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, has said the death toll at Kramatorsk train station has risen to 50.
That number includes five children.
About 4,000 people, most of them elderly, women and children, were at the railway station when it was struck, Mayor Oleksander Honcharenko said.
Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, slammed the attack in a social media post early today, saying: "This is an evil that has no limits."
"The occupiers hit the Kramatorsk railway station with a Point-U [missile], where thousands of peaceful Ukrainians were waiting to be evacuated," the Ukrainian President wrote on Instagram.
"About 30 people died, about 100 people were injured to varying degrees. Police and rescuers are already on the scene. Russian non-humans do not abandon their methods.
"Lacking the strength and courage to stand up to us on the battlefield, they are cynically destroying the civilian population.
"This is an evil that has no limits. And if it is not punished, it will never stop."
Follow our Russia-Ukraine live blog below for up-to-the-minute updates…
- Milica Cosic
50 confirmed dead after attack in Kramatorsk
The death toll from the railway station attack in Kramatorsk has increased to 50 Ukrainian civilians.
This includes five children, the governor of the Donetsk region has said.
- Milica Cosic
EU's von der Leyen visits Bucha mass grave
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today visited a mass grave in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv where Russian forces are accused by Ukraine's allies of carrying out atrocities against civilians.
An AFP journalist reported that von der Leyen was in the town north of the capital as part of a trip to shore up support for Ukraine alongside the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
- Milica Cosic
Ukrainian forensic investigators start exhuming bodies from Bucha mass grave
Forensic investigators began exhuming today from a mass grave in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
They were seen wrapping the bodies out in black plastic and laying them out.
Ruslan Kravchenko from the prosecutor’s office in Bucha said they had exhumed 20 bodies, 18 of whom had firearms and shrapnel wounds.
“There are witnesses who can confirm that these people were killed by the Russian forces. Without any reason, they were just walking down the street or being evacuated,” he told Reuters.
“Some of them were just speaking Ukrainian.”
- Milica Cosic
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- Milica Cosic
Food prices soar to record levels in Ukraine
Prices for food commodities like grains and vegetable oils reached their highest levels ever last month largely because of Russia's war in Ukraine and the massive supply disruptions it is causing, threatening millions of people in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere with hunger and malnourishment, the United Nations said today.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said its Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices for a basket of commodities, averaged 159.3 points last month, up 12.6% from February. As it is, the February index was the highest level since its inception in 1990.
FAO said the war in Ukraine was largely responsible for the 17.1% rise in the price of grains, including wheat and others like oats, barley and corn. Together, Russia and Ukraine account for around 30% and 20% of global wheat and corn exports, respectively.
- Milica Cosic
More on the Ukraine train station strike
Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the attack in a social media post, saying: "This is an evil that has no limits."
"The occupiers hit the Kramatorsk railway station with a Point-U [missile], where thousands of peaceful Ukrainians were waiting to be evacuated," the Ukrainian President wrote on Instagram.
"About 30 people died, about 100 people were injured to varying degrees. Police and rescuers are already on the scene. Russian non-humans do not abandon their methods.
"Lacking the strength and courage to stand up to us on the battlefield, they are cynically destroying the civilian population.
"This is an evil that has no limits. And if it is not punished, it will never stop."
- Milica Cosic
Thirty-five dead & 100 at Ukraine train station
AT LEAST 35 people have been killed and more than 100 injured after a Russian missile with "for our children" scrawled on the side blitzed a Ukrainian train station.
Horror pictures show bodies strewn across the ground beside abandoned luggage at Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine amid reports the site has been blasted by Russian troops.
At least 35 people were killed and over 100 were wounded, it's reported, as shocking footage shows smoke billowing from the scene.
About 4,000 people, most of them elderly, women and children, were at the railway station when it was struck, Mayor Oleksander Honcharenko said.
- Milica Cosic
White House condemn airstrike on packed station
The White House has condemned the "horrific and devastating images" of a deadly attack on a train station in Ukraine.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also criticised the attack, saying: "The missile attack this morning on a train station used for evacuations of civilians in Ukraine is despicable.
"I am appalled by the loss of life and I will offer personally my condolences to President Zelenskyy.
"My thoughts are with the families of the victims."
- Milica Cosic
Wallace: Ukraine support will change if Russia switches tactics
The UK's defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has warned today that the support given to Ukraine against a Russian invasion will change if tactics used by Moscow in the war were to change.
“If the tactics of the Russians change, what we give them (Ukraine) will change as well,” Mr Wallace told reporters during a visit to Romania.
He added: “We will do everything to see him defeated in Ukraine. There is more to do, Britain will do more, it will contribute more.”
- Milica Cosic
Latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
- At least 39 people are killed, including four children, in a rocket attack on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk that is being used for civilian evacuations, according to Ukraine's SBU security service.
- AFP journalists on the scene see the bodies of at least 30 people grouped and lying under plastic sheets next to the station.
- They are to meet with President Zelensky.
- It is only the second ever suspension of a country from the council, after Libya in 2011.
- He scolds "those who are making us wait, wait for the things that we need badly, wait for the means of protecting our lives."
Afternoon, Milica Cosic taking over the Russia-Ukraine war blog. I'll be bringing you the latest news until 10pm tonight.
Lib Dems call on Priti Patel to resign over refugee shceme
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for the Home Secretary to resign over her "failure" to help those fleeing Ukraine with an effective refugee scheme.
"Priti Patel's failure to help refugees fleeing from Putin's bombs is squandering the compassion & generosity of the British people. We want to offer Ukrainians a home, but Priti Patel has slammed the door in their face," Sir Ed tweeted.
"An apology isn't enough. She must resign."
Grant Shapps grounds Oligarch's jet at Biggin Hill
A private jet owned by Russian billionaire Eugene Shvidler has been banned from flying in the UK as part of sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that he has deregistered the aircraft, meaning any certificates in place to permit it to fly have been suspended.
The Cessna aircraft with the tail registration G-LATO is at Biggin Hill Airport, south-east London, where it was due to undergo maintenance and repairs.
It was blocked from leaving on March 19 last month on the order of Mr Shapps to enable an investigation into its ownership to be carried out.
Mr Shvidler is a friend of Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich.
Train station deaths rise to 39, inclkuding 4 children
A strike on a train station in eastern Ukraine on Friday killed 39 people, including four children, Ukraine's SBU security service said.
"Russian fascists bombed Kramatorsk station, 39 killed including four children," SBU spokesman Artem Dekhtyarenko said on Facebook.
Priti Patel slammed over Ukraine visa processing delays
The Home Secretary has apologised "with frustration" after coming under fire over "delays" in the time it is taking for Ukrainian refugees to arrive in the UK.
But Priti Patel denied visa requirements and checks are slowing the process and causing delays, insisting the UK will "absolutely see changes in numbers" as work continues.
Around 12,000 people had arrived in the UK under Ukraine visa schemes as of Tuesday, according to Home Office figures.
Some 10,800 people had arrived under the Ukraine family scheme but only 1,200 had made it to the UK as part of the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, provisional data published on the department's website shows.
As of Thursday, about 79,800 applications had been submitted to the schemes and 40,900 visas had been granted.
Of these, 43,600 applications were for the sponsorship scheme, with 12,500 visas issued.
Out of 36,300 requests made for family visas, 28,500 had been approved.
In a pre-recorded interview with the BBC, which aired on Friday, Ms Patel said: "I apologise with frustration myself… it takes time to start up a new route."
- Joseph Gamp
‘Putin has changed his tactics’
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said the war has entered a “new and different phase” following today’s meeting of Nato allies.
Speaking after the meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, Ms Truss said: “Putin has changed his tactics but not his intent. He wants a hold over the whole of Ukraine.”
Ms Truss also said there was now “a more concentrated Russian offensive” in Ukraine and that Nato had agreed to supply new and heavier equipment to fight it.
- Joseph Gamp
‘War criminals have no place in UN’
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, has responded to the news that Russia has been suspended from the UN’s Human Rights Council.
Kuleba said: “War criminals have no place in UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights. Grateful to all member states which supported the relevant UNGA resolution and chose the right side of history.”
- Joseph Gamp
UK sanctions Putin's daughters
Vladimir Putin's daughters have been sanctioned by the UK under measures to target the "lavish lifestyles" of the Russian president's inner circle over the invasion of Ukraine.
The Foreign Office announced travel bans and asset freezes against Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova and Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova on Friday.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov's daughter, Yekaterina Sergeyevna Vinokurova, also faces the same action.
The US has already sanctioned Mr Putin's daughters in retaliation against "war crimes" in Ukraine, and the European Union is expected to follow suit.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Our unprecedented package of sanctions is hitting the elite and their families, while degrading the Russian economy on a scale Russia hasn't seen since the fall of the Soviet Union.
"But we need to do more. Through the G7, we are ending the use of Russian energy and hitting Putin's ability to fund his illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine.
"Together, we are tightening the ratchet on Russia's war machine, cutting off Putin's sources of cash."
- Joseph Gamp
Ukraine urges population to flee or 'face death'
Ukraine last night urged its people to flee or "face death" in the far east of the war-torn country as Russia prepares to launch a new bloodbath.
Tens of thousands of Vladimir Putin's troops are expected to storm the bitterly contested Donetsk and Luhansk regions in a face-saving onslaught.
It is designed to give the despot a "token win" he can crow about at Russia's annual Victory Day Parade on May 9. It came as Nato chiefs said they were expecting a "major offensive" by the Russians in the Donbas region ? and warned there could be "a long haul" ahead for Ukraine.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Putin could end the war but added: "We have to be realistic and realise that this may last for a long time, for many months, for even years."
His warning came as Boris Johnson said Russian action in the city of Bucha "doesn't look far short of genocide".
- Joseph Gamp
'Thousands of people were at train station'
Ukrainian authorities say a rocket strike killed more than 30 people and wounded over 100 at a train station that was being used to evacuate civilians in eastern Ukraine.
The head of Ukraine's railways, Olexander Kamyshin, said on the messaging app Telegram that the strike happened on Friday in Kramatorsk, a city in the Donetsk region.
Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said thousands of people were at the train station at the time of the strike, preparing to evacuate to safer regions as Russia focuses its troops in eastern Ukraine.
- Joseph Gamp
More than 30 killed after rocket attack on Ukraine train station
More than 30 people were killed and over 100 were wounded in a Russian rocket strike in east Ukraine on Friday as civilians tried to evacuate to safer parts of the country, the state railway company said.
- Joseph Gamp
Inside Putin’s ‘Rusich’ neo-Nazi mercenaries
RUSSIAN mercenaries who collect their enemies’ ears as trophies are being deployed to Ukraine, it was reported.
The Neo-Nazi Rusich band has been pictured near the Russian-Ukrainian border in an area where Vladimir Putin’s forces are expected to go on the offensive in coming days.
Also known as Task Force Rusich, the group is affiliated to the Kremlin-backed Wagner group of mercenaries, who have also been recently seen inside Ukraine.
Rusich was founded in St Petersburg in 2014 by Aleksei Milchakov,30, who trained as a paratrooper in the Russian army, and 33-year-old Yan Petrovsky.
It first earned notoriety when deployed to eastern Ukraine during the fighting there between Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military in 2014.
On Milchakov’s page on Russian social media site Vkontakte, he posted pictures that show him removing the ears of dead Ukrainian soldiers, reports The Times.
- Joseph Gamp
Russia says it destroyed mercenary training centre in Odesa
Russia said on Friday it had destroyed a training centre for foreign mercenaries near the city of Odesa as part of its military campaign in Ukraine.
"High-precision missiles of the Bastion coastal missile system destroyed a foreign mercenary assembly and training centre near the village of Krasnosilka, northeast of Odesa," a defence ministry spokesperson said in a briefing.
- Joseph Gamp
UK journalist pays tribute to late colleagues killed in Ukraine
Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall has paid tribute to his late colleagues who were killed in Ukraine while reporting on the war.
The British journalist said he felt "damn lucky" to have survived a shelling attack by Russian forces as he shared updates on his injuries.
Mr Hall, 39, manged to survive the assault but lost half a leg and a foot, while one of his eyes is "no longer working".
His team was reporting for US network Fox News in Horenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, when his vehicle was hit by Russian shelling on March 14.
His Ukrainian producer Oleksandra Kuvshynova and Irish cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski were both killed in the incident.
"It's been over three weeks since the attack in Ukraine and I wanted to start sharing it all. But first I need to pay tribute to my colleagues Pierre and Sasha who didn't make it that day," Mr Hall wrote on Twitter.
"Pierre and I travelled the world together, working was his joy and his joy was infectious. RIP."
Sharing a picture of himself bandaged and wearing an eye-patch he added: "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."
- Joseph Gamp
MoD says troops in northern Ukraine have 'fully withdrawn'
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) says that in northern Ukraine Russian forces have "fully withdrawn" to Belarus and Russia.
"At least some of these forces will be transferred to East Ukraine to fight in the Donbas," it said.
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- At least 39 people are killed, including four children, in a rocket attack on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk that is being used for civilian evacuations, according to Ukraine's SBU security service.