Scattered luggage and personal items outside Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine, following a Russian missile strike that killed at least 50 civilians, April 8, 2022

EA on China Radio International: Addressing China’s Views on Ukraine War, NATO, and EU

Ukraine War, Day 43: US and Europe Announce New Sanctions on Russia — But Zelenskiy Wants More

UPDATE 1600 GMT:

Survivors have testified about the Russian missile strike on the Kramatrosk railway station.

Natalia said:

I was in the station. I heard like a double explosion. I rushed to the wall for protection.

I saw people covered in blood coming into the station and bodies everywhere on the ground. I don’t know if they were just injured or dead.

With the bodies of about 30 people, all in civilian clothing, placed under plastic sheets next to a kiosk outside the station, a woman approached, “I’m looking for my husband. He was here. I can’t reach him.”

A soldier at one of three hospitals in Kramatorsk said 50 wounded had arrived, “Many of them will die because they have lost a lot of blood, and we don’t have enough blood.”

UPDATE 1530 GMT:

An image from Kramatorsk railway station, site of a deadly attack by Russian forces today, on the day before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

UPDATE 1525 GMT:

Analysts are quickly debunking Russia’s disinformation that it was Ukrainian forces who carried out the missile strikes on the Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 50 people and wounding 83.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said only Ukraine has the Tochka-U missile used in today’s attack, but the Russia-based Conflict Intelligence Team had already documented Russia use of the munition:

Max Seddon, the Moscow bureau chief of the Financial Times, extends the point:

Seddon notes that the Russian Defense Ministry initially claimed and celebrated attacks on railway stations in eastern Ukraine this morning.

UPDATE 1510 GMT:

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Union foreign policy head Josep Borrell, who are meeting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv today, visit Bucha, where hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian troops.

UPDATE 1410 GMT:

The toll from Russia’s missile strikes on the Kramatorsk railway station has risen to at least 50 killed, including five children. (see also 0844 and 1125 GMT)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on his Facebook page about “Russian monsters”:

[They] have not abandoned their methods. Lacking the strength and courage to fight with 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.

Outside the station lay the remnant of a Tochka-U missile. On the side in large white Cyrillic letters is written: “For [the] children”.

And video of the packed station before the attack:

UPDATE 1328 GMT:

World food prices are at their highest level ever, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted markets for staple grains and vegetable oils.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index rose 12.6% from February to March, and is 33.6% higher than in March 2021.

Cereals rose 17.1% in a month because of increases in wheat and coarse grain prices. Wheat is up 19.7%, maize 19.1%, vegetable oil 23.2%, sugar 6.7%, meat 4.8%, and dairy 2.6%.

UPDATE 1245 GMT:

Slovakia has given its S-300 air defence system to Ukraine following a request from Kyiv, Prime Minister, Eduard Heger confirmed.

UPDATE 1125 GMT:

The toll from Russia’s missile strikes on the Kramatorsk railway station has risen to at least 39 killed, including two children.

Donetsk regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said many of the 87 wounded are in a serious condition. Mayor Oleksander Honcharenko said hospitals are unable to cope: “There are a lot of seriously injured people without arms and legs. They are being operated by 30-40 surgeons at the same time.”

Addressing the Finnish Parliament, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rebuffed Russian attempts to blame Ukraine: “Russian forces hit the train station in Kramatorsk, [firing] on an ordinary train station, on ordinary people, there were no soldiers there.”

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba added on Twitter:

UPDATE 0905 GMT:

Japan has joined European countries in expelling Russian personnel.

The eight Russian staff include several trade officials but not Ambassador Mikhail Galuzin.

Montenegro is the latest European country to order expulsions, with four Russian personnel to leave within a week over “violation of diplomatic norms with “subversive activities” in which a “red line has been crossed”.

Finland is expelling two Russian diplomats and discontinuing the visa of another.

More than 450 Russian staff with diplomatic status have been expelled from host countries since the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

In addition to the expulsions, Japan announced an expansion of sanctions against Russia. A ban on the import of machinery, wood, and vodka takes effect from next week. An asset freeze has been imposed on Sberbank and Alfa Bank.

UPDATE 0844 GMT:

The Ukrainian State railway company says a Russian missile strike has killed more than 30 people and wounded more than 100 in the Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine.

The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, says thousands of civilians were at the station hoping to evacuate to safer areas of Ukraine. The Kramatorsk mayor put the number at about 4,000.

Kyrylenko and the head of Ukrainian Railways, Alexander Kamishin, posted photos and video that showed slain and wounded people lying on the ground, surrounded by luggage and debris.

Ukrainian officials in central and eastern Ukraine, anticipating escalating Russian attacks and ground offensives, called on residents this week to move to safety if they could.

The Russian Defense Ministry tried to claim that Ukrainian forces struck their own civilians, insisting that the missiles are of a type only used by Ukraine’s military.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted the Russian armed forces had no missions scheduled for Kramatorsk on Friday.

UPDATE 0830 GMT:

In a video on social media, Ukrainian soldiers appear to shoot a Russian prisoner of war outside a village west of Kyiv.

The BBC said the location is north of the town of Dmytrivka, corresponding to satellite images showing bodies on the ground.

Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, said on British TV on Friday morning, “We’re making this very clear to all our soldiers that there are some limits. Τhe military are fighting. There are some limits. And each and every incident will be investigated.”

He juxtaposed the incident with the mass killing of civilians by Russian forces:

We’re talking about civilians, and Russians are killing, raping, just our civilian people. There are differences. All of us hate the war as it is, with people killing each other, but there is a difference, when you kill and shoot at military when you’re fighting, and when you kill innocent civilians.

UPDATE 0739 GMT:

Lithuania’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Valdemaras Sarapinas, has returned to Kyiv.

Saying “political and moral support is very important for the Ukrainians,” Sarapinas noted, “Two weeks ago, it was a dead city….Now there is life.”

Turkey announced on Wednesday that its embassy will return to Kyiv after temporarily relocating to Chernivtsi near the Romanian border.

Poland and the Vatican have maintained their presence in the Ukraine capital throughout the Russian invasion.

their representation in the city.

UPDATE 0726 GMT:

The European Union has imposed an embargo on Russian coal imports and closed ports to Russian ships.

The measure will take effect from mid-August, after Germany sought a delay to prepare for the effects of the coal ban.

The EU also banned exports worth 10 billion euros and froze the assets of banks including Russia’s largest, Sberbank.

That package also includes a 10 billion euro ban on exports to Russia, including high-tech goods, and the freezing of several Russian banks’ assets.

The EU’s 27 countries import 45% of their coal — 4 billion euros a year — from Russia.

UPDATE 0715 GMT:

Australia has despatched its first airlift of 20 refitted Bushmaster armored vehicles to Ukraine.

The delivery is part of $50m announced in military aid by Canberra.

“Australia may be thousands of kilometers away but we’re standing side by side with Ukraine against this illegal invasion with arms, equipment, aid and even energy sources,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison. “Our Australian-designed and made Bushmasters are known around the world for their usefulness in a combat zone and they will help boost Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s unprovoked and illegal violence.”

UPDATE 0655 GMT:

In his late-night address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said bravery “is our brand”.

This is what it means to be us. To be Ukrainians. To be brave.

If everyone in the world had at least ten percent of the courage that we Ukrainians have, there would be no danger to international law at all. There would be no danger to the freedom of the nations. We will spread our courage. We will start a special global campaign. We will teach the world to be not just a little bit, but full of courage. Like us, like Ukrainians.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: For the first time in Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, Russia has acknowledged “significant losses” among its invading forces, amid the failure of its “Plan A” to seize cities and overthrow the Ukrainian Government.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the UK’s Sky News, “We have significant losses of troops. It’s a huge tragedy for us.”

Peskov did not give a figure. Ukraine said on March 23, almost a month into the invasion, that more than 15,000 troops were slain. NATO estimated 7,000 to 15,000 troops — combined with those missing, captured, or wounded, Russia had lost 20% of its forces in Ukraine.

Since then, Russian troops have withdrawn from much from northern Ukraine, including near the capital Kyiv, Cherniv to the north, and Sumy to the east.

Peskov tried to portray the Russian withdrawal not as a sign of defeat, but as “an act of goodwill”.

Fear of More Mass Killings by Russians

As Russian forces withdrew, they left behind hundreds of slain civilians, some of them executed, in apparent war crimes. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned on Thursday that the casualties in Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, would be “much more disastrous” than in Bucha, 14 miles to the southeast.

The work to clear the rubble in Borodyanka has begun….It’s significantly more dreadful there. Even more victims from the Russian occupiers.

Ukraine Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said 26 bodies have been found under two ruined buildings in Borodyanka. She did not say if the cause of death has been established, but noted Russia had carried out airstrikes on the town.

She echoed Zelenskiy’s warning of a situation even worse than in Bucha: “Borodyanka is the worst in terms of destruction and in terms of the uncertainty about victims.”

The revelation since last Friday of the Russian mass killings of civilians in Bucha, with the mayor saying more than 300 have been buried in shallow graves, has drawn international attention to possible war crimes.

On Thursday, the UN General Assembly, expressing “grave concern at the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis”, suspended Russia from the Human Rights Council by a 93-24 vote, with 58 abstentions.

The suspension was the first of a permanent Security Council member in the Council’s history.

Russia then announced it was quitting the Council.

Echoing the estimate of Ukrainian officials, the Russian proxy group in eastern Ukraine acknowledged that more than 5,000 people have been killed during the six-week Russian siege and bombardment of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.

“Around 60-70% of the housing stock has been destroyed or partially destroyed,” said Konstantin Ivashchenko, who Russia has installed as the “mayor” of the city on the Sea of Azov.

The actual Mariupol mayor and other Ukrainian authorities have said 90% of the city is destroyed, warning there could be “tens of thousands of civilian casualties”.

More than 100,000 civilians are still trapped, with the Russian forces denying access to the Red Cross for aid and/or organized evacuations.