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KYIV — A Russian missile assault killed 22 civilians and set a passenger practice on hearth in japanese Ukraine, officers in Kyiv mentioned, with missile strikes north of the capital as Ukraine marked its Independence Day below heavy shelling.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had warned of the chance of “repugnant Russian provocations” forward of the thirty first anniversary on Wednesday of Ukraine’s independence from Moscow-dominated Soviet rule, and public celebrations had been canceled.

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The vacation additionally coincided with six months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, touching off Europe’s most devastating battle since World Battle Two.

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In video remarks to the United Nations Safety Council, Zelenskiy mentioned rockets hit a practice within the small city of Chaplyne, some 145 km (90 miles) west of Russian-occupied Donetsk in japanese Ukraine.

“Chaplyne is our ache right now. As of this second there are 22 lifeless,” he mentioned in a later night video deal with, including that Ukraine would maintain Russia liable for all it had finished.

Zelenskiy aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko later mentioned Russian forces had shelled Chaplyne twice.

A boy was killed within the first assault when a missile hit his home, and 21 individuals died later when rockets hit the railway station and set hearth to 5 practice carriages, he mentioned in a press release.

The Russian protection ministry didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Russia denies focusing on civilians.

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“Russia’s missile strike on a practice station stuffed with civilians in Ukraine suits a sample of atrocities. We’ll proceed, along with companions from world wide, to face with Ukraine and search accountability for Russian officers,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned on Twitter.

There have been additionally six explosions throughout a rocket assault on the Vyshgorod area straight north of Kyiv, however there have been no casualties reported, regional official Olexiy Kuleba mentioned.

“Two impacts had been recorded. There have been no casualties or accidents amongst civilians. There have been no fires or destruction of residential buildings or infrastructure,” Kuleba wrote on the Telegram channel on Thursday morning. “The opposite explosions heard by the residents of the area had been ‘the work’ of our air defenses,” he mentioned.

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In any other case, Russia’s army averted Kyiv on the Ukrainian vacation and focused frontline cities equivalent to Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Nikopol and Dnipro with artillery assaults, Ukraine presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych mentioned.

NO PUBLIC CELEBRATIONS

Individually, Kyiv submitted info to worldwide authorized our bodies about Russian plans, described by U.N. officers on Tuesday, to place captured Ukrainian fighters from the Azov Regiment on trial in Mariupol, officers mentioned.

The port metropolis fell to Russian forces in April after weeks of intense shelling as they encircled Ukrainian holdouts on the Azovstal metal plant.

Presidential adviser Arestovych mentioned Zelenskiy made clear Kyiv would “by no means, ever” take into account peace negotiations with Moscow if the trials went forward.

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U.S. Secretary of State spokesperson Ned Value mentioned the illegal course of would quantity to a “mockery of justice.”

Ukraine declared independence from the disintegrating Soviet Union in August 1991, and its inhabitants voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum that December.

Celebrations of the Aug. 24 public vacation had been canceled, however many Ukrainians marked the event by sporting embroidered shirts typical of the nationwide gown.

Air raid sirens blared at the least seven occasions within the capital Kyiv throughout the day, although there have been no assaults.

Zelenskiy and his spouse, Olena Zelenska, joined non secular leaders for a service in Kyiv’s Eleventh-century St. Sophia cathedral and laid flowers at a memorial to fallen troopers.

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The 44-year-old chief mentioned Ukraine would recapture Russian-occupied areas of japanese Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

MISSILE STRIKES FAR FROM FRONT LINES

Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian drone within the Vinnytsia area whereas Russian missiles landed within the Khmelnytskyi space, regional authorities mentioned, each west of Kyiv and a whole lot of kilometers from entrance strains.

No injury or casualties had been reported, and Reuters couldn’t confirm the accounts.

Russia has repeatedly denied its forces are aiming at civilian targets. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu advised a gathering in Uzbekistan that Moscow had intentionally slowed what it calls a “particular army operation” in Ukraine to keep away from civilian casualties.

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At a U.N. Safety Council session on Wednesday, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reiterated Moscow’s rationale for its actions in Ukraine, saying they aimed to “denazify and demilitarize” the nation to take away “apparent” safety threats to Russia.

Moscow’s stance has been dismissed by Ukraine and the West as a baseless pretext for an imperialist battle of conquest.

INCREASING WESTERN SUPPORT

U.S. President Joe Biden introduced almost $3 billion for weapons and tools for Ukraine in Washington’s “greatest tranche of safety help so far.” Beneath Biden, america has dedicated greater than $13.5 billion in army assist to Ukraine.

Russia has made few advances in current months after its troops had been repelled from Kyiv within the early weeks of the battle.

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Ukraine’s prime army intelligence official, Kyrylo Budanov, mentioned on Wednesday Russia’s offensive was slowing due to low ethical and bodily fatigue in its ranks, and Moscow’s “exhausted” useful resource base.

Russian forces have seized areas of the south, together with these on the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts and enormous tracts of the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk that make up the japanese Donbas area.

The battle has killed hundreds of civilians, compelled greater than a 3rd of Ukraine’s 41 million individuals from their properties, left cities in ruins and shaken the worldwide economic system, creating shortages of important foodgrains and pushing up vitality costs.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Cynthia Osterman; Enhancing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Clarence Fernandez and Lincoln Feast)