Ministry of Defence in Russia has claimed responsibility for the missile strike on a train station in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital that happened on Wednesday.
Recall that the Ukrainian authorities said that 25 people, including two children, had died in the attack, while at least 30 others were injured.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov claimed that more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers on their way to fight in the Donbas were killed in the attack in the central Dnipropetrovsk region town of Chaplyne.
No evidence was produced to support the claim that so many soldiers died, however. Konashenkov added that the rocket hit a part of the station used by the Ukrainian military and that military equipment had also been destroyed.
The deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said that both residential areas and railway infrastructure in Chaplyne had been targeted by Russian forces.
Tymoshenko said that an 11-year-old who was crushed under rubble and a 6-year-old killed in a car fire near the train station had been among the victims.
Neither the Russian nor the Ukrainian claims could be independently verified.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, which was carried out on Ukraine’s Independence Day, which fell six months to the day after the Russian invasion began.
However, US President Joe Biden called Zelensky on Thursday to offer him his moral support and to promise Washington’s continuing backing for Kyiv as they’ve entered its seventh month.
Ukrainian train stations and rail infrastructure have repeatedly been targeted during the war.