MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Russian attack leaves 25 Ukrainians dead; Moscow claims only troops were hit

Bachelet warned Russian attacks could constitute crimes against humanity for targetting civilians

A Russian Iskander missile hit a military column at the Chaplino railway station in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing over 200 Ukrainian troops bound for the Donbas region, according to Moscow sources, and destroying heavy military machinery, it was reported Thursday.

“As a result of a direct hit by an Iskander missile on a military column at the Chaplino railway station in the Dnipropetrovsk region, more than 200 servicemen ... heading to the zone of fighting in the Donbas were eliminated,” Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

According to Kyiv, at least 25 civilians were killed. “As a result of the shelling of the residential sector and the railway station, 25 people were killed, two of them children. An 11-year-old boy died under the rubble of a house, another 6-year-old boy died in a car near the railway station,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential office, said on Telegram.

The European Union (EU) Thursday condemned the attack bombing and warned that “those responsible will be held accountable.” More than two dozen others were injured, according to Ukrainian sources, while Russian authorities claim the attack killed only Ukrainian military personnel.

Meanwhile, a 15-year-old Ukrainian national dubbed “The Drone Boy” has been hailed as a hero for using his drone to help destroy a line of Russian military equipment and discourage an attack on Kyiv. The teenager handed over his tracking information to the Ukrainian military, which then destroyed the Russian column within minutes. Russia eventually retreated from its attack on Kyiv.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop “the armed attack on Ukraine”, and called for the demilitarization of the Zaporiyia nuclear power plant, which has been bombed several times. Bachelet briefly referred to the Ukrainian conflict at her end-of-term press conference. Bachelet detailed that her services have counted at least 5,587 civilians killed and 7,890 wounded since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine six months ago. Among those casualties, nearly 1,000 were children.

The former Chilean President, who will leave her current position at the end of the month, called on both sides to respect “at all times and in all circumstances international law.” She also stressed that “the international community must insist on the principle of accountability” for the numerous serious crimes documented, some of which could fall into the category of war crimes.