Russia attacks Ukraine: Death toll rises to 57 in Russian missile strike on train station

CHERNIHIV, Ukraine — Officials say at least 57 people were killed and dozens were injured Friday after a Russian missile struck a crowded train station in eastern Ukraine.

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Update 8:02 p.m. EDT April 10: Ukrainian officials on Sunday revised the death toll from Russia’s Friday missile strike on a train station in the city of Kramatorsk to 57, the BBC reported.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor, also confirmed that 109 people were wounded in the attack, the network reported.

“Those with minor injuries have been released to go home. The heavily injured are being transported to safe regions and being provided with the necessary aid,” Kyrylenko said.

Russia has denied accusations that it was responsible for the attack and has, instead, suggested that the missiles belonged to Ukraine.

Update 7:40 p.m. EDT April 8: Ukrainian officials confirmed late Friday afternoon that the attack on the Kramatorsk train station killed at least 52 people.

Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenk said earlier in the day that the station was filled with 4,000 people – most of them elderly, women and children, attempting to leave before fighting intensified – at the time of the strike, The Guardian reported.

Meanwhile, a senior U.S. defense official told The Washington Post that the station was targeted by a short-range ballistic missile, and the Pentagon is “not buying” Russia’s denial that the Kremlin was responsible.

The official, who spoke with the Post on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon, identified the missile used as an SS-21, a NATO designation for a weapon often called an OTR-21 Tochka missile.

Original report: More than 100 were injured, according to The Associated Press.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said thousands of people were at the station in Kramatorsk when it was hit by a missile. The station was being used to evacuate civilians from the region, CBS reported. According to The New York Times, the station was a main evacuation hub due to increased warnings of Russian attacks in the region.

A social media post shared by Ukrainian officials showed a train car with smashed windows, abandoned luggage and bodies strewn outdoors, The Associated Press reported.

Russia denied involvement in the train attack, with its defense ministry calling allegations by Ukrainian officials “a provocation,” CBS reported.

Officials in Ukraine said evacuations of residents would continue from another train station in the region, The New York Times reported.