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.
The attack, denounced by some as yet another war crime in
the 6-week-old conflict, came as workers unearthed bodies from a mass grave in
Bucha, a town near Ukraine’s capital where dozens of killings have been
documented after a Russian pullout.
Photos from the station in Kramatorsk showed the dead
covered with tarps, and the remnants of a rocket with the words “For the
children” painted on it in Russian. 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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who says he expects
a tough global response, and other leaders accused Russia’s military of
deliberately attacking the station. Russia, in turn, blamed Ukraine, saying it
doesn’t use the kind of missile that hit the station — a contention experts
dismissed.
Zelenskyy told Ukrainians in his nightly video address
Friday that efforts would be taken “to establish every minute of who did what,
who gave what orders, where the missile came from, who transported it, who gave
the command and how this strike was agreed to.”
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor of Donetsk, in the
Donbas, said 52 people were killed, including five children, and many dozens
more were wounded.
“There are many people in a serious condition, without arms
or legs,” Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko said, adding that the local
hospital was struggling to treat everyone.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack as
a war crime, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “completely
unacceptable.”
“There are almost no words for it,” European Union
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in Ukraine, told reporters. “The
cynical behavior (by Russia) has almost no benchmark anymore.”
Ukrainian authorities and Western officials have repeatedly
accused Russian forces of atrocities in the war that began with a Feb. 24
invasion. More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions
more have been displaced. Some of the grisliest evidence has been found in
towns around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, from which Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s troops pulled back in recent days.
In Bucha, Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk has said investigators
found at least three sites of mass shootings of civilians and were still
finding bodies in yards, parks and city squares — 90% of whom were shot.
Russia has falsely claimed that the scenes in Bucha were
staged.
On Friday, workers pulled corpses from a mass grave near a
town church under spitting rain, lining up black body bags in rows in the mud.
About 67 people were buried in the grave, according to a statement from
Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova’s office.
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war
crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the
tribunal that must be held,” Zelenskyy said, his voice rising in anger late
Friday.
He expounded on that theme in an excerpted interview with
CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Friday, citing communications intercepted by the
Ukrainian security service.
“There are (Russian) soldiers talking with their parents
about what they stole and who they abducted. There are recordings of (Russian)
prisoners of war who admitted to killing people,” he said. “There are pilots in
prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also
investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead.”
Zelenskyy’s comments echo reporting from Der Spiegel saying
Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had intercepted Russian military radio
traffic in which soldiers may have discussed civilian killings in Bucha. The
weekly also reported that the recordings indicated the Russian mercenary Wagner
Group was involved in atrocities there.
German government officials would not confirm or deny the
report, but two former German ministers filed a war crimes complaint Thursday.
Russia has denied that its military was involved in war crimes.
Russian forces, who pulled back after failing to take the
capital in the face of stiff resistance, have now set their sights on the
Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking, industrial region where Moscow-backed
rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some
areas.
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that the Pentagon
believes some of the retreating units were so badly damaged they are “for all
intents and purposes eradicated.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity
to discuss internal military assessments.
The official did not say how many units sustained such extensive
damage, but said the U.S. believes Russia has lost between 15% and 20% of its
combat power overall since the war began. While some combat units are
withdrawing to be resupplied in Russia, Moscow has added thousands of troops
around Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, he said.
The train station hit is in Ukrainian government-controlled
territory in the Donbas, but Russia’s Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of
carrying out the attack. So did the region’s Moscow-backed separatists, who
work closely with Russian regular troops.
Western experts refuted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s
assertion that Russian forces “do not use” that type of missile, saying Russia
has used it during the war. One analyst added that only Russia would have
reason to target railway infrastructure in the Donbas.
“The Ukrainian military is desperately trying to reinforce
units in the area … and the railway stations in that area in Ukrainian-held
territory are critical for movement of equipment and people,” said Justin
Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
Bronk pointed to other occasions when Russian authorities
have tried to deflect blame by claiming their forces no longer use an older
weapon “to kind of muddy the waters and try and create doubt.” He also
suggested that Russia specifically chose the missile type because Ukraine also
has it.
A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to
discuss intelligence, also said Russia’s forces have used the missile — and
that given the strike’s location and impact, it was “likely” Russia’s.
Ukrainian officials have almost daily pleaded with Western
powers to send more arms, and to further punish Russia with sanctions and
exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system.
NATO nations agreed Thursday to increase their supply of
weapons, and Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced on a trip to
Ukraine on Friday that his country has donated its Soviet-era S-300 air defense
system to Ukraine. Zelenskyy had appealed for S-300s to help the country “close
the skies” to Russian warplanes and missiles.
American and Slovak officials said the U.S. will then deploy
a Patriot missile system to Slovakia.
After meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday, during which he
urged the EU to impose a full embargo on Russian oil and gas, von der Leyen
provided him with a questionnaire that is a first step for applying for EU
membership.
Elsewhere, in anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian
forces, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages that were either under fire or
occupied in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson.
In the northeast’s Kharkiv, Lidiya Mezhiritska stood in the
wreckage of her home after overnight missile strikes turned it to rubble.
“The ‘Russian world,’ as they say,” she said, wryly invoking
Putin’s nationalist justification for invading Ukraine. “People, children, old
people, women are dying. I don’t have a machine gun. I would definitely go
(fight), regardless of age.”
Ukraine Russian Missile Ukrainian train station
Comment
American and British forces carried out a fresh wave of strikes Saturday against 18 Huthi targets in Yemen, following weeks of unrelenting attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed rebels.
The strikes "specifically targeted 18 Huthi targets across eight locations in Yemen" including weapons storage facilities, attack drones, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter, a joint statement said.
It was co-signed by Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand, who gave unspecified "support" to the new round of strikes, the second this month and fourth since the rebels began their attacks on ships in the region.
"The Huthis' now more than 45 attacks on commercial and naval vessels since mid-November constitute a threat to the global economy, as well as regional security and stability, and demand an international response," the statement said.
Huthi-run Al-Masirah television reported "a series of raids on the capital Sanaa," while AFP correspondents in the rebel-controlled city in western Yemen said they heard several loud bangs.
"The United States will not hesitate to take action, as needed, to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world's most critical waterways," Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a separate statement after the strikes.
"We will continue to make clear to the Huthis that they will bear the consequences if they do not stop their illegal attacks, which harm Middle Eastern economies, cause environmental damage, and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries."
Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree was defiant, vowing in a social media statement that the rebels would "confront the American-British escalation with more qualitative military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arab Seas."
The UK Ministry of Defence said four Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s targeted "several very long-range drones, used by the Houthis for both reconnaissance and attack missions," on Saturday, at a site north-east of Sanaa.
Saturday's operation comes after several merchant vessels were struck this week in the region, including the fertilizer-filled Rubymar, whose crew had to abandon ship after it was hit Sunday and began taking on water.
Apart from the joint operations with Britain, the United States has also carried out unilateral strikes against Huthi positions and weaponry in Yemen, and downed dozens of missiles and drones in the Red Sea.
- Anti-ship missile downed -
Earlier on Saturday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that an American Navy ship had shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile "launched into the Gulf of Aden from Iranian-backed Huthi controlled areas of Yemen."
The missile "was likely targeting MV Torm Thor, a US-Flagged, owned, and operated chemical/oil tanker," CENTCOM said on X, formerly Twitter.
US forces on Friday also shot down three attack drones near commercial ships in the Red Sea and destroyed seven anti-ship cruise missiles on land, CENTCOM said.
The Huthis say they are targeting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.
Following previous US and UK strikes, the Huthis declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.
The Huthis will "persist in upholding their religious, moral and humanitarian duties towards the Palestinian people, and their military operations will not stop unless the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted," military spokesman Saree said.
Anger over Israel's devastating campaign in Gaza -- which began after an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 -- has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Comment
Israel launched air strikes Thursday on southern Gaza's Rafah after threatening to send troops into the city, where around 1.4 million Palestinians have sought shelter from around the territory.
Global powers trying to navigate a way to end the Israel-Hamas war have so far come up short, but a US envoy was expected in Israel on Thursday to try to secure a truce deal.
International concern has spiralled over the high civilian death toll and dire humanitarian crisis in the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack against Israel.
More than four months of relentless fighting and air strikes have flattened much of the Hamas-run coastal territory, pushing its population of around 2.4 million to the brink of famine, according to the UN.
International concern has in recent weeks centred on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million people forced to flee their homes elsewhere in the territory are now living in crowded shelters and makeshift tents.
The last city untouched by Israeli ground troops, Rafah also serves as the main entry point via neighbouring Egypt for desperately needed relief supplies.
Israel has warned it will expand its ground operations into Rafah if Hamas does not free the remaining hostages held in Gaza by next month's start of the Muslim holy month Ramadan.
- 'My daughter' -
The war started when Hamas launched its attack on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Hamas militants also took about 250 hostages -- 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 30 presumed dead, according to Israel.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 29,313 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest count by the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory.
War cabinet member Benny Gantz said Israel's operation in Rafah would begin "after the evacuation of the population", although his government has not offered any details on where civilians would be evacuated to.
In the early hours of Thursday, AFP reporters heard multiple air strikes on Rafah, particularly in the Al-Shaboura neighbourhood.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said early Thursday that 99 people had been killed around Gaza during the night, most of them women, children and elderly people.
Abdel Rahman Mohamed Jumaa said he lost his family in recent strikes on Rafah.
"I found my wife lying in the street," he told AFP. "Then I saw a man carrying a girl and I ran towards him and.... picked her up, realising she was really my daughter."
He was holding a small shrouded corpse in his arms.
- 'Possibility of progress' -
Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, was expected to arrive in Israel Thursday -- his second stop in the region after Egypt as part of US efforts to advance a hostage deal and broker a truce.
Hamas's chief Ismail Haniyeh was in Cairo for talks as well, according to the group.
Israel's Gantz said there were efforts to "promote a new plan for the return of the hostages".
"We are seeing the first signs that indicate the possibility of progress in this direction."
Matthew Miller, US State Department spokesman, said Washington was hoping for an "agreement that secures a temporary ceasefire where we can get the hostages out and get humanitarian assistance", but declined to give details on ongoing negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the army will keep fighting until it has destroyed Hamas and freed the remaining hostages.
Israel's parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly backed a proposal by Netanyahu to oppose any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
The vote came days after the Washington Post reported that US President Joe Biden's administration and a small group of Arab nations were working out a comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
It included a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the report said.
Separately, a report by an Israeli group that fights sexual violence said Hamas's October 7 attack also involved systematic sexual assaults on civilians, based on witness testimonies, public and classified information, and interviews.
The report came the same week UN rights experts called for an independent probe into alleged Israeli abuses against Palestinian women and girls -- which Israel rejected as "despicable and unfounded claims".
Israeli officials have repeatedly alleged the militants committed violent sexual assaults during the attack -- something Hamas has denied.
- 'Waiting for death' -
Combat and chaos have stalled sporadic aid deliveries for civilians in Gaza, while in Khan Yunis -- a city just north of Rafah -- medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said an Israeli tank had fired on a house sheltering their employees and families.
Two relatives of MSF staff were killed and six others injured, it said, condemning the strike in the "strongest possible terms".
When contacted by AFP about the incident, the Israeli army said its forces had "fired at a building that was identified as a building where terror activity is occurring", adding that it "regrets" harm to civilians.
In the same town, the Palestinian Red Crescent said another hospital was also hit by "artillery shelling".
Israel has repeatedly said Hamas militants use civilian infrastructure including hospitals as operational bases -- claims that Hamas has denied.
Comment
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today stressed the need for expanding business between Bangladesh and India using their own currencies.
"We can do our business through exchanges of Bangladeshi Taka and Indian Rupee. It has already started, but we have to expand it further so that we can increase our businesses," she said while Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar paid a call on the Prime Minister.
The meeting was held at Hotel Bayerischer Hof, the conference venue, here on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2024, this morning.
Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud briefed newsmen about the outcome of the meeting upon its completion.
The Foreign Minister said the Bangladesh Premier and Jaishankar attached importance to doing business between the two friendly countries through their own currencies to reduce dependency on other currencies like the US dollar.
He said Bangladesh and India have excellent bilateral relations and it has elevated to another height under the leadership of the prime ministers of the two countries.
"The relations between the countries are getting stronger day by day," he said, adding that the two leaders discussed the issues during the meeting.
Quoting Jaishankar, Hasan said, "Our relations will further be closer in the days ahead."
Bangladesh Ambassador to Germany Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and PM's Deputy Press Secretary Md. Noorelahi Mina were present during the briefing.
Bangladesh Prime Minister arrived in Munich on February 15 evening on a three-day official visit to join the Munich Security Conference 2024.
Upon completion of the tour, Sheikh Hasina will leave Munich tomorrow night and is scheduled to reach Dhaka on February 19.
(BSS)
Comment
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon all concerned to find ways to stop Russia-Ukraine war while holding a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy here.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always says we are against all kinds of war. Today, she discussed time and again about how the war can be stopped while holding talks with Zelenskyy," said Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud at a news briefing after the meeting.
The meeting between the two leaders was held at Hotel Bayerischer Hof here on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2024, this morning.
Hasan also said that they also discussed how the attacks on innocent men and women in Gaza can be stopped.
The Premier reminded all that war can't bring wellbeing for any one.
"Others can be benefitted from the war. But the war cannot bring welfare for the countries involved in war and their people have to be affected by the war," said Sheikh Hasina.
In this connection, the Prime Minister recollected her memories about the sufferings of the countrymen and she herself faced during the Great War of Liberation in 1971.
She recalled her inhuman sufferings and the birth of her only son Sajeeb Wazed Joy under the captivity of the Pakistani occupation forces during the War.
"Bangladesh's foreign policy - 'Friendship to all, malice to none’ - prominently came up in the discussion between Prime Minister and Zelenskyy," the foreign minister said.
Replying to a query, Hasan said the friendly relations between Bangladesh and Russia which got foundation during the Liberation war , will not hamper at all.
"Our relationship with Russia is very wonderful. Russia stood beside us during the Liberation War and played a pivotal role in rebuilding Bangladesh after the war," he said.
He said they only discussed how to stop the war.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Germany Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and PM's Deputy Press Secretary Md. Noorelahi Mina were present during the briefing.
Bangladesh Prime Minister arrived in Munich on February 15 evening on a three-day official visit to join the Munich Security Conference 2024.
Upon completion of the tour, Sheikh Hasina will leave Munich tomorrow night and is scheduled to reach Dhaka on February 19.
(BSS)
Comment
Comment
American and British forces carried out a fresh wave of strikes Saturday against 18 Huthi targets in Yemen, following weeks of unrelenting attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed rebels. The strikes "specifically targeted 18 Huthi targets across eight locations in Yemen" including weapons storage facilities, attack drones, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter, a joint statement said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today stressed the need for expanding business between Bangladesh and India using their own currencies. "We can do our business through exchanges of Bangladeshi Taka and Indian Rupee. It has already started, but we have to expand it further so that we can increase our businesses," she said while Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar paid a call on the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon all concerned to find ways to stop Russia-Ukraine war while holding a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy here. "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always says we are against all kinds of war. Today, she discussed time and again about how the war can be stopped while holding talks with Zelenskyy," said Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud at a news briefing after the meeting.