April 8, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Donetsk regional police said around 30 people were killed and 100 injured in the Russian missile strike on a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, where civilians were waiting for evacuation trains to safer regions of the country.

Kramatorsk railway station has been a crucial hub for evacuation of civilians from the Donbas region.

Police said first responders are continuing to work at the scene.

The chairman of the Russian metals firm Rusal has called for an impartial investigation into the killing of civilians in Bucha.

What happened? Shocking images of the carnage in Bucha were captured by Agence France-Presse on Saturday, the same day Ukraine declared the town liberated from Russian troops. Accounts of alleged Russian atrocities are emerging as its forces retreat from areas near Kyiv following a failed bid to encircle the capital.

The town of Bucha has endured five weeks of near-constant firefights. Now officials and human rights groups are blaming the civilian deaths on the departed Russian forces.

Zonneveld’s statement did not address who may be responsible for the atrocities but went on to say that “such incidents make this terrible tragedy all the more traumatic.”

“We all wish an early end to this fratricidal conflict, which destroys lives, families and entire cities. And we want those responsible for such crimes to be punished appropriately,” the statement reads.

Zonneveld, a Dutch citizen, added that Rusal is calling for an early peaceful resolution of this conflict “to preserve priceless human lives and return to normalcy.”

The founder of Rusal, Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who has called for peace in the past, said on Telegram last week that the war is “madness” and could have already been resolved through negotiations.

 Read more on the killings in Bucha:

RELATED

Russian troops discussed killing Ukrainian civilians in radio transmissions intercepted by Germany, source says

Tetiana Ihnatchenko, spokesperson for the Donetsk regional administration, said at least 27 people, including two children, were killed and 30 people were injured in a Russian missile strike on a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

Kramatorsk railway station has been a crucial hub for evacuation of civilians from the Donbas region.

Japan will expel eight Russian diplomats and officials due to the war in Ukraine, foreign ministry spokesperson Hikariko Ono said at a press conference on Friday.

The diplomats are from the Russian Embassy in Japan and the officials from the Office of Trade Representative.

Earlier, Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry announced that the country will gradually reduce imports of Russian coal in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some context: Japan's announcement comes as European leaders plan to phase out Russian coal imports in response to harrowing scenes in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv.

Russian forces have shelled the city of Kharkiv, the regional military governor said Friday, amid continued heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine

"Over the last 24 hours, Russian occupation forces have fired 48 times with artillery, mortars, tanks and multiple rocket launchers in Saltivka, Piatyhatky, Oleksiivka, Derhachi and in the city center," Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said on Telegram.

"As of now, there are 15 injured in Kharkiv and in the district."

Syniehubov said shelling seriously damaged a gas pipeline, and that emergency crews were working at the scene.

The shelling of Kharkiv comes amid heavy fighting in the southern part of the region. Ukrainian authorities have urged civilians to evacuate a number of cities and settlements in eastern Ukraine.

"Fighting continues in the Izium direction," he said. "We continue evacuation, in particular from Barvinkove and Lozova."

Some background: Recent advances by Russian forces around Kharkiv could be setting the stage for the eastern city of Sloviansk to become the next target of Russia's offensive, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

Two missiles have struck the train station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the head of Ukraine's national rail system, Oleksandr Kamyshin, said on his official Telegram channel Friday.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, confirmed that first responders were reporting "dozens" of casualties following the attack.

Kyrylenko said thousands of people were at the station during the missile strike, amid the evacuation of residents from the Donetsk region to safer areas of Ukraine.

The eastern city of Kramatorsk was one of the first places to be targeted by the Russian military when the invasion of Ukraine was launched on February 24.

This post has been updated.

Russia is searching for ways to replenish troop numbers, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russia's military registration and enlistment offices have redoubled efforts to “solve the problem of replenishing its units with human resources,” the Ukrainian military wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.

Ukraine says Russian recruiters are now conscripting those who have been discharged from military service since 2012, particularly drivers, mechanics, reconnaissance specialists and junior commanders.

Ukraine also believes Russia is looking to sign up Russian passport holders in the Transnistria region of Moldova, home to a separatist movement. A small Russian military contingent has been based in Transnistria since the early 1990s, but the region shares no borders with Russia and it is unclear how it could provide recruits to the Russian military in significant numbers. 

Ukraine sees preparations nearing completion for a "massive breakthrough" attempt by Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region, the military governor of the Luhansk region said on Friday. 

Ukrainian officials have urged residents of some cities in Donbas to evacuate in anticipation of what they say may be a major offensive.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and top diplomat for the bloc, Josep Borrell, are en route to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

Von der Leyen tweeted a photo Friday of her walking up to a train alongside Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger, who is joining the trip.

“Looking forward to Kyiv," she said.

Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also tweeted a picture of himself and von der Leyen setting out on their journey.

The European Commission chief is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “sometime” on Friday, according to Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Sergei Nikiforov.

The visit comes as the bloc approved its fifth package of sanctions against Russia on Thursday evening, notably imposing an import ban on Russian coal.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a NATO press conference in Brussels that the sanctions would signal “serious pressure” being placed on Russia, although he lamented the bloc’s failure to target Russian oil and gas in the package.