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Ukraine has called for more weapons and harsher sanctions after it blamed Russia for a missile attack that killed at least 52 people at a train station packed with women, children and the elderly fleeing the threat of a Russian offensive in the east.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike in Kramatorsk, in the eastern region of Donetsk, a deliberate attack on civilians. The city's mayor estimated 4000 people were gathered there at the time.

The United States, the European Union and Britain condemned the incident which took place on the same day European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Kyiv to show solidarity and accelerate Ukraine's membership process.

"We expect a firm global response to this war crime," Zelenskiy said in a video posted late on Friday.

"Any delay in providing ... weapons to Ukraine, any refusals, can only mean the politicians in question want to help the Russian leadership more than us," he said, calling for an energy embargo and all Russian banks to be cut off from the global system.

Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the station was hit by a Tochka U short-range ballistic missile containing cluster munitions, which explode in mid-air, spraying lethal bomblets over a wider area.

Reuters was unable to verify what happened in Kramatorsk.

Cluster munitions are banned under a 2008 convention. Russia has not signed it but has previously denied using such armaments in Ukraine.

Russia's more than six-week long incursion has seen more than four million people flee abroad, killed or injured thousands, left a quarter of the population homeless and turned cities into rubble as it drags on for longer than Russia expected.

In Washington, a senior defence official said the US was "not buying the denial by the Russians that they weren't responsible", and believed Russian forces had fired a short-range ballistic missile in the train station attack.

The Russian defence ministry was quoted by RIA news agency as saying the missiles said to have struck the station were used only by Ukraine's military and that Russia's armed forces had no targets assigned in Kramatorsk on Friday.

Russia has denied targeting civilians since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on February 24 in what he called a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Russia's southern neighbour.

Ukraine and its Western supporters call that a pretext for an unprovoked invasion.

Ukrainian officials expect an attempt by Russian forces to gain full control of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk in the east, both partly held by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.

The Kremlin on Friday said the "special operation" could end in the "foreseeable future" with its aims being achieved through work by the Russian military and peace negotiators.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned the war could last months or even years.

The White House said it would support attempts to investigate the attack in Kramatorsk, which Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson said showed "the depths to which Putin's vaunted army has sunk".

At least 52 people had been killed in the blast, according to the regional military administration.

The wreckage of the missile bore the words "for the children" on its side. Russia has for years accused Ukraine of killing civilians including children with strikes in separatist-held eastern Ukraine.

As Russia concentrates on the east, Ukrainian forces there said late on Friday they had repelled seven Russian attacks, destroying nine tanks, seven other armoured vehicles and two helicopters. Reuters could not independently verify that.

Following a partial Russian pullback near Kyiv, a forensics team on Friday began exhuming a mass grave in the town of Bucha. Authorities said hundreds of dead civilians had been found there.

Russia has called allegations that its forces executed civilians in Bucha a "monstrous forgery" aimed at denigrating its army and justifying more sanctions.

The United States on Friday broadened its export curbs against Russia and ally Belarus, restricting access to imports of items such as fertiliser and pipe valves.

Ukraine on Thursday secured a new commitment from NATO to supply a wide range of weapons.

© RAW 2022

Britain's defence ministry says Russian forces are targeting civilians, a day after a missile attack on a train station crowded with women, children and the elderly killed at least 52 people, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russia was focusing its offensive, which included cruise missiles launched by its naval forces, on the eastern Donbas region, the British ministry said in a daily briefing on Saturday.

It said it expected air attacks would increase in the south and east as Russia sought to establish a land bridge between Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and the Donbas, but Ukrainian forces were thwarting the advance.

"The occupiers continue to prepare for the offensive in the east of our country in order to establish full control over the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions," the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike on the crowded train station in Kramatorsk, in the eastern region of Donetsk, a deliberate attack on civilians. The city's mayor estimated 4000 people were gathered there at the time.

Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the station was hit by a Tochka U short-range ballistic missile containing cluster munitions, which explode in midair, spraying bomblets over a wider area.

Cluster munitions are banned under a 2008 convention. Russia has not signed it but has previously denied using such armaments in Ukraine.

The United States, the European Union and Britain condemned the incident, which took place on the same day European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Kyiv to show solidarity and accelerate Ukraine's membership process.

"We expect a firm global response to this war crime," Zelenskiy said in a video posted late on Friday.

"Any delay in providing ... weapons to Ukraine, any refusals, can only mean the politicians in question want to help the Russian leadership more than us," he said, calling for an energy embargo and all Russian banks to be cut off from the global system.

Russia's more than six-week long incursion has seen more than four million people flee abroad, killed or injured thousands, left a quarter of the population homeless and turned cities into rubble as it drags on for longer than Russia expected.

In Washington, a senior defence official said the United States was "not buying the denial by the Russians that they weren't responsible".

The Russian defence ministry claimed the missiles said to have struck the station were used only by Ukraine's military and Russia's armed forces had no targets assigned in Kramatorsk on Friday.

Russia has denied targeting civilians since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on February 24 in what he called a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Russia's southern neighbour.

Ukraine and its Western supporters call that a pretext for an unprovoked invasion.

The Kremlin said on Friday the "special operation" could end in the "foreseeable future", with its aims being achieved through work by the Russian military and peace negotiators.

The White House said it would support attempts to investigate the attack in Kramatorsk, which UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said showed "the depths to which Putin's vaunted army has sunk".

Following a partial Russian pullback near Kyiv, a forensics team on Friday began exhuming a mass grave in the town of Bucha. Authorities say hundreds of dead civilians have been found there.

Russia has called allegations that its forces executed civilians in Bucha a "monstrous forgery".

Visiting the town on Friday, von der Leyen said it had witnessed the "unthinkable".

She later handed Zelenskiy a questionnaire forming a starting point for the EU to decide on membership, telling him: "It will not as usual be a matter of years to form this opinion but I think a matter of weeks."

The bloc also overcame some divisions to adopt new sanctions, including bans on the import of coal, wood, chemicals and other products alongside the freezing of EU assets belonging to Putin's daughters and more oligarchs.

Ten humanitarian corridors to evacuate people from besieged regions had been agreed for Saturday, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, including from the devastated southeastern city of Mariupol.

© RAW 2022

Ukraine is calling on civilians in the eastern Luhansk region to flee from Russian shelling after officials said more than 50 civilians trying to evacuate by rail from a neighbouring region were killed in a missile attack.

Air raid sirens rang out across much of the east of Ukraine on Saturday morning, officials said, as Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai urged people in a televised address to leave as Russia was amassing forces for an offensive.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for a "firm global response" to Friday's missile attack on a train station crowded with women, children and the elderly in Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region. The city mayor, who estimated 4000 people were gathered there at the time, said at least 52 died.

Russia's defence ministry denied responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement the missiles that struck the crowded station were used only by Ukraine's military and that Russia's armed forces had no targets assigned in Kramatorsk on Friday.

All statements by the Ukrainian authorities on the attack were "provocations", it said.

Russia's incursion, which has already lasted more than six weeks, has forced more than four million people to flee abroad, killed or injured thousands, left a quarter of the population homeless, and turned cities into rubble.

The Kremlin said on Friday that what it calls a "special operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Russia's southern neighbour could end in the foreseeable future with its aims being achieved through work by the Russian military and peace negotiators.

But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, whose organisation like Ukraine has dismissed Russia's arguments as a pretext for an unprovoked invasion, warned the war could last months or even years.

The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said Moscow was preparing for a thrust to try to gain full control of the eastern Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk partly held by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014, after withdrawing forces from the Kyiv region.

The British Defence Ministry said in a briefing it expected air attacks to increase in the south and east as Russia seeks to establish a land bridge between Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and the Donbas but Ukrainian forces were thwarting the advance.

Ten humanitarian corridors to evacuate people from besieged regions have been agreed for Saturday, including one for people evacuating by private transport from the devastated southeastern port city of Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said Kramatorsk station was hit on Friday by a Tochka U short-range ballistic missile containing cluster munitions, which explode in midair, spraying bomblets over a wider area.

Cluster munitions are banned under a 2008 convention. Russia has not signed it but has previously denied using such armaments in Ukraine.

In Washington, a senior defence official said the United States did not accept the Russian denial and believed Russian forces had fired a short-range ballistic missile in the train station attack.

The European Union and Britain joined in condemnation of the incident which took place on the same day European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Kyiv to show solidarity and accelerate Ukraine's membership process.

Friday's attack added to a wave of international revulsion at the high level of civilian casualties following the discovery of hundreds of dead bodies in the town of Bucha near Kyiv after Russian soldiers withdrew.

Russia has called allegations that its forces executed civilians there a "monstrous forgery".

Visiting the town on Friday as a forensics team began exhuming a mass grave in Bucha, von der Leyen said it had witnessed the "unthinkable".

She later handed Zelenskiy a questionnaire forming a starting point for the EU to decide on membership.

The bloc also overcame some divisions to adopt new sanctions, including bans on the import of coal, wood, chemicals and other products alongside the freezing of EU assets belonging to Putin's daughters and more oligarchs.

Zelenskiy said in a video address the West must do more, including an energy embargo and cutting off all Russian banks from the global financial system.

© RAW 2022