Ukraine called for more weapons and harsher sanctions after it blamed Russia for a missile attack that killed at least 52 people at a train station packed with women, children and the elderly fleeing the threat of a Russian offensive in the east.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike in Kramatorsk in the eastern region of Donetsk a deliberate attack on civilians.
Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged another 100 million pounds ($130 million) in high grade military equipment to Ukraine, saying Britain wants to help Ukraine defend itself. The European Union nations also agreed to ban Russian coal in the first sanctions on the vital energy industry.
The conflict began escalating on February 21, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised separatist regions in eastern Ukraine and deployed troops in a peacekeeping role.
Read | A message for Russia: On Moscow’s suspension from U.N. Human Rights Council
Here are the latest updates:
Boris Johnson meets with Zelensky in Kyiv
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to Kyiv on Saturday, an aide to the Ukrainian leader said.
“Boris Johnson’s visit in Kyiv began just now with a tete-a-tete meeting with President Zelensky,” presidential aide Andriy Sybiha said on Facebook, posting a photo of the pair. -AFP
YouTube bans Russian parliament channel
YouTube has banned the channel of Russia’s lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, prompting government officials to renew longtime threats against the platform.
The Duma TV channel reported the ban on the messaging app Telegram, noting that it had 145,000 subscribers and over 100,000 million total views.
In comments to the Russian news agency Interfax, Google didn’t give an exact reason for the move, but said the company follows “all applicable sanction and trade compliance laws”.
Russia’s state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor demanded that YouTube unblock the channel. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday that the service “has handed itself a sentence” and urged its users to “download content, transfer it onto Russian platforms. And fast”. -AP
Russian forces destroy ammo depot at Ukrainian air base
Russian forces have destroyed an ammunition depot at the Myrhorod Air Base in central Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported on Saturday, quoting the Russian Defence Ministry.
A Ukrainian air force MiG-29 fighter and a Mi-8 helicopter were also destroyed in the attack on the base in the Poltava region, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.-Reuters
Ukraine railway: evacuations continue in east
Ukraine’s railway operator says operations are halted at the train station in Kramatorsk, which was damaged in a missile strike Friday, but evacuations of civilians will continue through other stations in eastern Ukraine.
The company said Saturday that evacutions will continue from the stations in Slovyansk and Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region and Novozolotarivka in the Luhansk region.
The statement on the messaging app Telegram said that “the railways do not stop the task of taking everyone to safety.”-AP
More evacuations needed from Ukraine’s Luhansk as shelling increases
More evacuations are needed from the Luhansk region in Ukraine as shelling has increased in recent days and more Russian forces have been arriving, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Saturday.
He said that some 30% of people still remain in settlements across the region and have been asked to evacuate.
“They (Russia) are amassing forces for an offensive and we see the number of shelling has increased,” Mr. Gaidai told the public television broadcaster.-Reuters
Ukraine says 10 humanitarian corridors agreed for Saturday
Ten humanitarian corridors to evacuate people from Ukraine’s besieged regions have been agreed for Saturday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
The planned corridors include one for people evacuating by private transport from the city of Mariupol, Vereshchuk said.-Reuters
UK says Russia continues to hit Ukrainian non-combatants
Russia continues to hit Ukrainian non-combatants, such as the civilians killed in Friday’s rocket strike on Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine, British military intelligence said on Saturday.
“Russian operations continue to focus on the Donbas region, Mariupol and Mykolaiv, supported by continued cruise missile launches into Ukraine by Russian naval forces,” the Ministry of Defence said, adding that Russia’s ambitions to establish a land corridor between Crimea and the Donbas continue to be thwarted by Ukrainian resistance.-Reuters
Zelensky calls for ‘firm global response’ to train station bombing
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a “firm global response” Friday after a missile strike killed 52 people at a train station in eastern Ukraine where civilians had gathered to flee a feared Russian offensive.
“This is another Russian war crime for which everyone involved will be held accountable,” Zelensky said in a video message, referring to Friday’s missile strike, whose victims included five children.
“World powers have already condemned Russia’s attack on Kramatorsk. We expect a firm global response to this war crime,” he continued.
At least 52 people including five children were killed, the regional government said, while Zelensky reported 300 wounded, saying the strike showed “evil with no limits”.-AFP
Missile kills at least 52 at crowded Ukrainian train station
A missile hit a train station in eastern Ukraine where thousands had gathered Friday, killing at least 52 and wounding dozens more in an attack on a crowd of mostly women and children trying to flee a new, looming Russian offensive, Ukrainian authorities said.
Photos from the station in Kramatorsk showed the dead covered with tarps, and the remnants of a rocket painted with the words “For the children,” which in Russian implied that children were being avenged by the strike, though the exact reason remained unclear. About 4,000 civilians had been in and around the station, heeding calls to leave before fighting intensifies in the Donbas region, the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said.-AP
Don’t expect Russia to be ousted from UN Security Council: White House
A day after Russia’s suspension from the UN Human Rights Council amid its invasion of Ukraine, the White House on Friday said it does not anticipate the same for Moscow in the Security Council where it is a veto-wielding Permanent Member.
“I know a question has been asked about whether Russia should be kicked out of being a permanent member. We don’t anticipate that happening,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news briefing.
“But obviously, the step taken yesterday to suspend Russia from the UNHRC is an indication of the global response and horror at the atrocities we have seen happen on the ground in Ukraine. But beyond that, I don’t have any other predictions of reforms,” she said.-PTI
Europe agrees to ban Russian coal, but struggles on oil, gas
The European Union nations have agreed to ban Russian coal in the first sanctions on the vital energy industry over the war in Ukraine, but it has underlined the 27 countries' inability to agree so far on a much more sweeping embargo on oil and natural gas that would hit Russia harder but risk recession at home.
U.K., European Union impose sanctions on Putin's daughters
Britain and the European Union have added two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin to their sanctions list, as part of a new package of measures targeting Russia's economy, businessmen and oligarchs in retaliation for the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.
The British government said on Friday that it is imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Putin’s daughters Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova, as well as Yekaterina Vinokurova, daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
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