Comment As Ukrainians marked the 31st anniversary of their country’s break from the Soviet Union with a somber parade in Kyiv on Wednesday, Russia launched a deadly missile attack on a train station in a city 300 miles southeast, killing at least 22 and wounding dozens more. , officials said. The strike rocked Chaplin, population 3,700, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned days earlier that Russia could be planning “something particularly cruel” this week to spoil Ukraine’s Independence Day, its highest national holiday. country. Details of the bombing were still coming into focus late that evening, but Zelensky and one of his deputies said four rockets hit the station, damaging a utility building and destroying train cars. “Chaplin is our pain today,” Zelensky said in his afternoon speech, vowing retaliation for Russia. “We will certainly make the conquerors accountable for everything they have done. And we will surely expel the invaders from our land.” Ukraine had braced for strikes in the capital and other major cities on Wednesday, which was also the six-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion. The contours of the conflict have changed drastically since February 24, when Moscow’s troops invaded the country expecting to oust the government in short order. Instead, the war has become a costly, overwhelming affair full of momentum shifts as Kyiv has galvanized international support and attracted unprecedented arms aid from Western countries. And while the attack in Chaplyne, in a rural part of Dnipropetrovsk region, was a smaller-scale disaster than initially feared, the death toll was significant – one of the deadliest attacks in an urban area in recent weeks. It also highlighted Russia’s targeting of transport infrastructure, a strategy ostensibly aimed at disrupting arms supply routes but which has also killed dozens of bystanders. April’s bombing of a train station in the Donetsk Oblast city of Kramatorsk left at least 50 dead and nearly 100 injured, turning the transit hub into a scene of carnage and chaos. News of Chaplyne’s strikes emerged shortly before Zelensky was scheduled to appear in substance at a UN Security Council meeting. Addressing a room full of diplomats, including representatives from Russia, Zelensky denounced the latest round of bombings. “This is our life every day,” he said. “This is how Russia prepared for this UN meeting.” On Independence Day, Ukraine celebrates the state that Putin failed to destroy Search and rescue crews were still sifting through the rubble at the train station late Wednesday night, and Zelensky said the death toll could rise. The president initially said 50 people were injured, but a later estimate by his deputy chief of staff, Kirill Tymoshenko, put the number at around two dozen. Tymoshenko said an earlier attack on the city leveled a resident’s home, trapping a woman and two children under the rubble. One of the children, an 11-year-old boy, was killed, he said. The four rockets that hit the train station a few hours later set fire to five passenger cars, Tymoshenko said. Photos posted on social media by the Ukrainian military showed trains charred and twisted, nearby cars demolished and buildings reduced to bricks and broken timber. In Kyiv, authorities banned mass gatherings and the sounds of air raid sirens were heard everywhere. Communities around Dnipro and the eastern Donbas region reported strikes throughout the day. But Zelensky remained defiant, pledging in a speech late that night that Ukrainians would “make our way to victory.” Sammy Westfall and David Stern contributed to this report.
War in Ukraine: What you need to know
The last: Grain shipments from Ukraine are being accelerated under the agreement reached by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations in July. Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports had sent food prices skyrocketing and sparked fears of more famine in the Middle East and Africa. At least 18 ships, including cargoes of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, have departed. The battle: The conflict on the ground continues as Russia uses its heavy artillery advantage to pound Ukrainian forces, which have at times managed to put up stiff resistance. In the south, Ukraine’s hopes rest on liberating the Russian-held region of Kherson, and eventually Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014. Fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant persist as both sides accuse each other of they bomb. The weapons: Western arms supplies are helping Ukraine slow Russian advances. US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems (HIMARS) allow Ukrainian forces to strike further behind Russian lines against Russian artillery. Russia has used a range of weapons against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts. Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground since the start of the war — here are some of their strongest works. How you can help: Here are ways those in the US can help support the Ukrainian people, as well as the donations people have made around the world. Read his full coverage Russia-Ukraine crisis. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video.
