Ukraine says at least 52 people were killed in a Russian missile attack on the Kramatorsk train station

Dozens were killed and about 100 injured, Friday, in a Russian missile attack on the Kramatorsk train station, one of the stations in the far east of the country that is still operating in the region. UkraineUkrainian officials said. The station was used to evacuate civilians from the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. At least five children were killed in the attack, according to the local governor.

note: This article contains disturbing images of dead and wounded victims in Kramatorsk.

“You lack the strength and courage to confront us on the battlefield, [the Russians] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “They are cynically destroying the civilian population. This is an evil that knows no bounds. If it is not punished, it will never stop.”

The mayor of Kramatorsk said about 4,000 people, mostly women and children, were at the train station at the time of the attack. The graphic images circulated on social media show a number of victims in civilian clothes. Ukrainian authorities said at least 52 people were killed Associated Press.

“This is a deliberate strike against the passenger infrastructure of the railways and the residents of Kramatorsk,” Alexander Kamyshin, head of the country’s national railways, wrote on social media.

Ukrainian security forces were seen inspecting the remnants of a missile in front of the train station after the attack. On the hull of the missile was the words “For children” written in Russian on its side. The specific Russian phrase has a meaning closer to “on behalf of children” or “in response to an attack on children”, rather than “directed at children”.

Russia denied it carried out the attack and blamed it on Ukrainian forces.

“All the statements made by representatives of the Kyiv nationalist regime regarding the ‘missile attack’ allegedly carried out by Russia on April 8 at the railway station in the city of Kramatorsk are provocative and completely untrue,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Officials Warning That Russia will withdraw its forces from other regions of Ukraine and intensify its attacks on the eastern Donbass region, civilians are rushing to evacuate the region.

“We’re going to be concentrating a lot of troops there,” Nick Reynolds, a land warfare research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank, told CBS News.

The speed with which the West can send military aid to help Ukraine will make a big difference in the country’s ability to fend off any further Russian advance from the east.

“We are in a bit of a awkward position right now in support of Ukraine because a lot of things that are easy to move and easy to put in the field … these stocks are dwindling,” Reynolds said.

Larger systems that may be useful to Ukraine, such as the S-300, are more difficult to transport and will take time to get to the front.

“To some extent, next month will decide a few things,” Reynolds told CBS. “The battle of Mariupol will largely shape the political situation: what is possible and what is not possible for the Ukrainians, the international community, and for Russia.” News. He said that if the Russians could capture the southeastern city of Mariupol, their strategic goals would become more viable.

“But for the international community, this is very important,” Reynolds said. “Because we don’t really have any options for de-escalation – there is no kind of politically or morally acceptable option for de-escalation with Russia, or return to any kind of partial normalization of relations under a negotiated settlement – if Russia takes control of such major population centers.”