NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880/AP) -- A missile hit a crowded train station in eastern Ukraine used to evacuate civilians, killing at least 50 people, including five children, and injuring dozens more on Friday, Ukrainian officials said. Meanwhile, the Kremlin acknowledged it has suffered “significant losses of troops” in the six-week invasion, calling it a “huge tragedy for us.” Russia has shifted its focus to the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine after failing to take Kyiv, and Ukrainian officials warned residents this week to leave for safer parts of the country as soon as possible.
FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2022
5:30 p.m. - EU president meets with Zelenskyy, exchanges questionnaire in 1st step for membership
European Union President Ursula Von der Leyen met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine and handed him an envelope containing a questionnaire -- a first step in his request to become an EU member, according to ABC News.
Von der Leyen also toured the horrors of Bucha with EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
At a press conference Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "the sickening images and accounts coming out of Bucha and other parts of Ukraine have only strengthened our collective resolve and unity."
4:30 p.m. - US official: Some Russian units depleted
A senior U.S. defense official says the Pentagon has determined that some of the Russian combat units that retreated from the Kyiv area in recent days are so heavily damaged and depleted that their combat utility is in question.
The official described these units as “for all intents and purposes eradicated,” with only a small number of functioning troops and weapons remaining. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal U.S. military assessments, did not say how many units sustained such extensive damage.
The official said some combat units that withdrew from the Kyiv area are beginning to move toward the Russian towns of Belgorod and Valuyki for refitting and resupplying before likely deploying to the Donbas region of Ukraine. The official also said the U.S. has seen thousands of additional Russian troops added to the combat force that Moscow has been using in and around the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
The official says that the U.S. believes Russia has lost 15 to 20 percent of the combat power it had assembled along Ukraine’s borders before launching its invasion Feb. 24.
1:15 p.m. - Military expert: Kremlin looking to ‘muddy the waters’ after strike on train station
A military expert has rejected Russia’s effort to deny responsibility for the missile strike on a Ukrainian railway station, saying the denial follows a standard formula the Kremlin uses to “muddy the waters” after attacks on civilian targets.
Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said Friday that railroads in eastern Ukraine are a significant military target for Russia because destroying this kind of infrastructure makes it more difficult for Ukraine to reinforce its forces in the region. He added that Ukraine has little incentive to deliberately kill its own people during a war of attrition.
Bronk told the Associated Press that the strike was entirely in line with how Russian forces operate by terrorizing civilians to try and increase pressure on the Ukrainian government to agree a cease fire. He added this would allow them to consolidate their gains and try and stabilize their military position, “which is not great.”
Russia’s defense ministry rejected claims that Russia was responsible for the attack, saying it no longer uses the type of missile that hit the railway station.
10:55 a.m. - Death toll rises to 50 in strike at train station, 5 kids among victims
The death toll in a missile strike at a train station in the city of Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, rose to 50 with dozens more injured, officials said.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor of Donetsk, which lies in the Donbas, said that five children were among the 50 people killed.
Kyrylenko wrote on social media that 38 people had died at the scene, and another 12 in hospital. At least 100 more were injured.
Photos from the scene showed bodies covered with tarps on the ground and the remnants of a rocket with the words “For the children” painted on it in Russian.
According to CBS News, the specific Russian phrase is closer in meaning to “on behalf of children” or “in retaliation for an attack on children” rather than “aimed at children.”
About 4,000 civilians were in and around the station, the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said, adding that most were women and children heeding calls to leave the area before Russia launches a full-scale offensive in the country’s east after leaving the Kyiv area.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied attacking the station, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian leaders accused Russia’s military of deliberately targeting a location where only civilians were assembled.
Britain’s Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack, saying “the striking of civilians and critical infrastructure is a war crime.”
“These were precision missiles aimed at people trying to seek humanitarian shelter,” Wallace said.
8:45 a.m. - At least 39 killed in missile strike at train station where civilians evacuating: Ukraine
At least 39 people were killed when a missile hit a crowded train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on Friday. The station has been a busy evacuation point for civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that thousands of people were at the train station when the missile struck.
“The inhuman Russians are not changing their methods. Not having the strength and courage to confront us on the battlefield, they are cynically destroying the civilian population,” Zelenskyy posted to Facebook along with graphic photos of the aftermath that show bodies on the ground. “This is evil that knows no bounds. And if it is not punished it will never stop.”
The regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said at least 39 people were killed and 87 wounded. The office of Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said about 4,000 civilians were in and around the station, most of them women and children heeding calls to leave the area before Russian forces arrived.
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 Russian Defense Ministry denied targeting the station in Kramatorsk, a city in the eastern Donetsk region, but Zelenskyy blamed Russia for the bodies lying in what looked like an outdoor waiting area.
Russian-backed separatists control part of the Donestsk region, but Kramatorsk remains under Ukrainian government control.
8 a.m. - Kremlin acknowledges ‘significant losses of troops’
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that Russia has suffered “significant losses of troops” during its military operation in Ukraine.
Peskov said: “Yes, we have significant losses of troops and it is a huge tragedy for us.”
Speaking in an exclusive interview with British broadcaster Sky on Thursday, Peskov also hinted that the operation might be over “in the foreseeable future.” He said that Russian forces were “doing their best to bring an end to that operation.”
He said: “And we do hope that in coming days, in the foreseeable future, this operation will reach its goals, or we’ll finish it by the negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations.”
7:30 a.m. - Food prices soar to record levels on Ukraine war disruptions
Prices for food commodities like grains and vegetable oils reached their highest levels ever last month largely because of Russia's war in Ukraine and the “massive supply disruptions” it is causing, threatening millions of people in Africa, the Middle East elsewhere with hunger and malnourishment, the United Nations said Friday.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said its Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices for a basket of commodities, averaged 159.3 points last month, up 12.6% from February. As it is, the February index was the highest level since its inception in 1990.
FAO said the war in Ukraine was largely responsible for the 17.1% rise in the price of grains, including wheat and others like oats, barley and corn. Together, Russia and Ukraine account for around 30% and 20% of global wheat and corn exports, respectively.
7 a.m. - Zelenskyy expects more atrocities will be uncovered in Borodianka
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday night that work has begun to dig through the rubble in Borodianka, another city northwest of Kyiv that was occupied by the Russians.
He also said “it is much scarier” there, with even more victims of the Russian troops.
In his daily nighttime video address to the nation Thursday, Zelenskyy said the Russians were preparing to shock the world in the same way by showing corpses in Mariupol and falsely claiming they were killed by the Ukrainian defenders.
Meanwhile, Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said Thursday on Ukrainian television that investigators have found at least three sites of mass shootings of civilians during the Russian occupation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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