Attack on Ukraine train station 'completely unacceptable': UN

ANKARA

The UN on Friday decried a deadly Russian attack on a railway station in Ukraine's eastern Kramatorsk.

"The strike on the Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine today, which killed and injured scores of civilians waiting to be evacuated, including many women, children and elderly, and other attacks against civilians and on civilian infrastructure are completely unacceptable," Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN chief Antonio Guterres, said in a statement.

The attacks, he said, are "gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law" and their perpetrators must be "held accountable."

"The Secretary-General reminds all parties of their obligations under international law to protect civilians and of the urgency to agree on humanitarian ceasefires in order to enable the safe evacuation of and humanitarian access to populations trapped in conflict," according to the statement.

It reiterated the UN chief’s appeal to all parties to "bring an immediate end to this brutal war."

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also condemned the attack.

"We strongly condemn the attack today on the train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine," said UNICEF Ukraine Representative Murat Sahin. "We do not know yet how many children were killed and injured in the attack, but we fear the worst."

Sahin said the train station had been the main route out for thousands of families evacuating from Donetsk oblast, which has seen some of the war's worst destruction, to relatively safer areas in Ukraine.

"Earlier today, UNICEF offloaded medical kits and emergency supplies at Kramatorsk," he said. "The UNICEF team was delivering life-saving supplies to the regional health department, a kilometer away from the train station when the attack took place."

At least 50 people, including five children, were killed Friday in a Russian attack on the railway station, said authorities.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack "evil with no limits," saying Russian forces hit the station with Tochka-U missiles.

The Kremlin, however, denied Ukrainian reports of Russian airstrikes on the station.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said allegations by Kyiv are a provocation and "absolutely do not correspond to reality."