Russia attack on train station in eastern Kramatorsk leaves dozens dead, officials say

Slovakia Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced Friday that his country is sending a Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine to “help save many innocent lives from the aggression of the Putin regime.” 

Heger made the remark while visiting Ukraine with European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. 

“I can confirm that the Slovak Republic has donated to Ukraine an air defense system, the S-300. I believe that this defense system will help save many innocent lives from the aggression of the Putin regime,” Heger said. 

For more on this story: Slovakia donates air defense system to Ukraine to save lives from ‘aggression of the Putin regime’

The U.S. should have highlighted Russia’s mass grave plans in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine in order to rally support and strengthen Kyiv’s ability to defend itself, according to a former defense official. 

“I think [the administration] missed an opportunity to sound the alarm at an earlier stage and in a more clear fashion, that they could have done that in December, as opposed to the weeks immediately prior to the invasion,” James Anderson, former deputy undersecretary of defense for policy under President Donald Trump, told Fox News Digital. 

Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians were found in Kyiv-area towns and cities retaken as Russian forces withdrew from the area last week. In Bucha, alone, more than 100 civilians were found buried in mass graves, leading President Biden to call for a war crimes trial over Russia’s actions. 

Radio Free Europe in December first reported on Moscow’s plans to standardize wartime mass grave practices, but it was only last week that those plans took on a new light: The standards apply to the “emergency burial” of fallen soldiers, with a specific size that would hold up to 1,000 bodies, as well as how to arrange the bodies and how to cover them. 

For more on this story: US could have used Russian mass grave laws to rally more, early support for Ukraine: former defense official

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday pledged another $130 million in high grade military equipment to Ukraine, including Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles, another 800 anti-tank missiles, and precision munitions capable of lingering in the sky until directed to their target.

Speaking Friday at a news conference with Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Johnson also promised more helmets, night vision and body armor. The items were in addition to some 200,000 pieces of non-lethal military equipment from the UK that had already been promised.

The pledge of new weaponry came as Johnson condemned the attack on train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk earlier Friday.

Johnson said both the U.K. and Germany shared the “revulsion at the brutality being unleashed, including the unconscionable bombing of refugees fleeing their homes,” adding that the train station attack “shows the depths to which Putin’s vaunted army has sunk.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday that the reported Russian attack on a train station in Kramatorsk — which has left at least 50 dead — is a “gross violation of international humanitarian law.”

“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,” Stéphane Dujarric said. “They are gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, for which the perpetrators must be held accountable.”

“The Secretary-General reiterates his appeal to all concerned to bring an immediate end to this brutal war,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
has told CBS News “60 Minutes” that he only saw “death, just death” when touring the city of Bucha earlier this week. 

In the interview, which is set to air starting Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “defending the ability of a person to live in the modern world” in their fight against Russia. 

“They say we’re defending Western values. I always say, what are Western values? Someone who lives in the United States or Europe, do they also not like children?” Zelenskyy said.  

“Do they not want their children to go to university, do they not want their grandfather to live for 100 years?” he continued. “We have the same values. We are defending the right to live.” 

For more on this story: Zelenskyy says he saw ‘death, just death’ during Bucha, Ukraine visit

WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE: Fox News senior correspondent Laura Ingle speaks with Ukrainian soldier Oleksander Pogrebysky about the brutality he witnessed.

At least 50 people, including 5 children, have been killed Friday in an attack by the Russian military on a train station in Kramatorsk, the area’s regional governor says.

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 Ukraine’s 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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Russia is suggesting Friday that Belarus – a country it has used as a springboard for its invasion of Ukraine – should be among the nations providing security guarantees for Kyiv in the future. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the remark after it emerged last week that Ukraine is seeking concrete security guarantees during peace negotiations, including promises of military assistance during a future conflict from the world’s “leading armies,” in exchange for adopting neutral status. 

“At the request of the Ukrainian side, its neutral, non-bloc, non-nuclear status should be accompanied by security guarantees,” Lavrov said Friday, according to Reuters. 

For more on this story: Russia wants its ally Belarus to provide security for Ukraine in the future

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United Nations to issue Russia ultimatums over diplomacy as the deadly war continues for a sixth week.

Zelenskyy, who has garnered international praise for his refusal to bend to Moscow’s aggression, said the United Nations has offered only “concern” for Ukrainians since Russia’s first invasion in 2014. 

“Unfortunately, not too many of our citizens survived after raising their concerns,” the president said in a Thursday interview with Indian television Republic Media Network. “You need to establish the isolation against the Russian Federation.” 

“We should not be using words of concern, we should be using the word… ultimatum,” Zelenskyy added. “Because they are using only the ultimatum in their conversation with us and the whole world.”

For more on this story: Zelenskyy calls on UN to cut diplomatic ties and ‘isolate’ Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decried the Russian military as an “evil that knows no bounds” Friday following an attack on a railway station in eastern Ukraine that officials say left dozens dead. 

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said Russian forces carried out two missile strikes at the train station in Kramatorsk, where an evacuation of civilians was taking place. Images taken in recent days have depicted large crowds of Ukrainians standing on the station’s platforms hoping for a chance to escape Russia’s bloody invasion, which has now entered its 44th day. 

“Not having the strength and courage to confront us on the battlefield, they are cynically destroying the civilian population,” Zelenskyy wrote on his Facebook page Friday morning. “This is evil that knows no bounds. And if it is not punished it will never stop.” 

For more on this story:
Zelenskyy reacts to Ukraine rail station attack: ‘Evil that knows no bounds’

People worldwide have been shocked by gruesome images of corpses strewn in the streets of Bucha, Ukraine, as Russian forces pulled back in recent days, but foreign policy experts say the brutal tactics the Kremlin is using are nothing new. 

“It is absolutely not an accident that they are fighting this way,” Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America,” told Fox News Digital. 

“This is 100% intentional. It’s not a lack of military discipline.”

For more on this story: Russia’s alleged war crimes in Ukraine are calculated, experts say: ‘As shocking as it is, it’s nothing new’

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, tweeted Friday morning that he “strongly” condemned the “indiscriminate” attack on a packed railway station in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine where civilians were attempting to evacuate.

The attack left more than 30 civilians dead and 100 hurt, local officials said.

“This is yet another attempt to close escape routes for those fleeing this unjustified war and cause human suffering,” Borrell said.

Russian troops attacked a packed railway station in eastern Ukraine Friday morning and dozens were feared dead. 

At least 39 people were killed, according to the regional governor. More than 100 were also hurt in the attack, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said. 

“Russians carried out two missile strikes on railway station in Kramatorsk, where evacuation of civilians was taking place,” the Ministry tweeted. “But Russian war criminals not only deliberately targeted thousands of people; they’ve used cluster munitions. More than 30 killed, more that 100 injured.”

For more on this story: Russian attack on railway station in eastern Ukraine leaves dozens dead: reports

Japan plans to expel eight Russian diplomats stationed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo, NHK World-Japan News reports.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
said he is meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Friday and welcomed “his principled determination to end dependence on Russian energy.”

“How we respond to Russia’s invasion will define the international order for years to come,” he said. “We cannot let Putin’s crimes go unpunished.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Friday she was “looking forward to Kyiv” along with a photo of her stepping off a train.

The European Union announced this week she and Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy head, would be meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine’s capital.

Russian forces have fully withdrawn from Ukraine’s north to Russia and Belarus and some troops will be sent east to the Donbas, the U.K.’s Defense Ministry said in a Friday morning update.

“Many of these forces will require significant replenishment before being ready to deploy further east, with any mass redeployment from the north likely to take at least a week minimum,” the Defense Ministry said.

Russia has acknowledged significant losses to its ranks.

The update continued, “Russian shelling of cities in the east and south continues and Russian forces have advanced further south from the strategically important city of Izium which remains under their control.”

The United States is increasing the number of Ukrainian refugees allowed into the country as larger numbers of those fleeing the war-torn country are trying to relocate into the U.S. by coming through the Southern border.

Vlad Fedoryshyn, a volunteer with access to a waiting list, said Thursday that the U.S. processed 620 Ukrainians over 24 hours, while about 800 others are arriving daily in Tijuana. Volunteers say the U.S. was previously admitting a few hundred Ukrainians daily.

CBP didn’t provide numbers in response to questions about operations and plans over the last two days, saying only that it has expanded facilities in San Diego to deal with humanitarian cases.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sky News on Thursday that “we have [had] significant losses of troops [in Ukraine] and it’s a huge tragedy for us.”

Peskov made the remark after being asked about the losses Russia’s military has suffered since launching its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

A growing number of U.S. fire departments are sending protective gear to their fellow first responders in Ukraine.

Fox News State Department correspondent Benjamin Hall provided a health update following the horrific attack in Ukraine that left two colleagues dead. 

Hall was rescued from the war zone last month and flown to a hospital in Germany. He was later transferred to a premier military medical facility in Texas where he has undergone multiple surgeries. 

“To sum it up, I’ve lost half a leg on one side and a foot on the other. One hand is being put together, one eye is no longer working, and my hearing is pretty blown… but all in all I feel pretty damn lucky to be here – and it is the people who got me here who are amazing!” Hall tweeted Thursday evening, sharing an image of himself from the hospital. 

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