Up to 300 feared killed from strike on train station in Ukraine's Kramatorsk
Ukrainian officials are raising the death toll from a missile strike on a packed train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, as local hospitals buckled under an influx of injured victims.
Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said an updated count showed 39 people were killed in Fridays strike. Ukrainian officials had earlier put the figure at around 30. Officials put the number of injured anywhere from 87 to as many as 300.
Kramatorsk mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko told Ukrainian TV that between 30 and 40 surgeons were treating the wounded, and hospitals were unable to cope with the surge in admissions.
The office of Ukraines prosecutor-general said about 4,000 civilians were in and around the station, most of them women and children. The Ukrainian government has been urging to leave the area before an expected new offensive by Russian forces.
Russian-backed separatists control part of the Donestsk region, but Kramatorsk remains under Ukrainian government control.
Meanwhile, the European Union has returned its ambassador to Ukraine to the capital, Kyiv, in a move that underscores the improved security situation there and the 27-nation blocs commitment to the beleaguered country.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made the announcement Friday during a visit to Kyiv where he joined EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Borrell said the ambassadors return would help ensure that the EU and Ukraines government can work together more directly and closely.
Russian forces sought to enter Kyiv in the days after its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine but despite severe losses and damage, the city withstood the attacks and the government was able to continue functioning from there.
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In a message apparently directed to local residents, Zhyvytskyy said any explosions in the area in the short term were likely to be sounds of rescuers and mine-clearing specialists at work deactivating the ammunition and other explosives.
He had said earlier this week that Russia no longer controlled any settlements in the region.
___ BRUSSELS – The European Union imposed has sanctions on two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a new package of measures targeting Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to two EU officials.
The EU included Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova in its updated list of individuals facing assets freeze and travel bans. The two EU officials from different EU member countries spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the updated list of sanctions has not been published yet.
The move from the European bloc follows a similar move two days earlier by the United States.
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