On Wednesday, August 24, as his country celebrated the anniversary of its independence from the Soviet Union, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported that a Russian rocket attack on a Ukrainian train station left at least 22 persons dead and several others injured.
On July 4, which marks six months since Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine and the deadliest battle in Europe since World War Two, Zelenskiy had warned of Russian attacks.
Zelenskiy claimed that the rockets struck a train in the small town of Chaplyne, about 145 kilometers (90 miles) west of Russian-occupied Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, in a video message to the UN Security Council on Wednesday. He claimed that four carriages were on fire.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, called today’s attack on the Chaplyne train station in a Ukrainian-held area “pain” in a message on the messaging service Telegram.
In addition, he added that one of the dead was an 11-year-old whose home had been damaged by a Russian missile. “As of this moment, there are 22 dead, five of them burned in a car,” he stated.
He stated: “At the train station, search and rescue efforts are still in progress. The occupants will undoubtedly be held accountable for everything they have done. And we’ll definitely drive the invaders from our territory.”
The public festivities for August 24 had been banned in Ukraine, but many people observed the day by donning embroidered blouses decorated with the colors of their flag.
Even though there were no strikes in Kyiv, air raid sirens were heard at least seven times during the day, according to Reuters.
In Kyiv’s St. Sophia church, built in the eleventh century, Zelenskiy and his wife Olena Zelenska attended a service with religious leaders and lay flowers at a memorial to fallen troops.
The 44-year-old leader also pledged that Russia-occupied regions of eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, which Russia invaded in 2014, would be reclaimed by Ukraine.
“We won’t enter into negotiations under the threat of a pistol being pointed at our heads. For us, shackles, not missiles, aircraft, or tanks, are the most terrible iron “said he.
