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Ukraine and its allies have 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.
As regional authorities scrambled to evacuate the vulnerable, European Union leaders visited Kyiv to offer President Volodymyr Zelenskiy support and expedite Ukraine's path toward EU membership.
Zelenskiy called the strike in Kramatorsk in the eastern region of Donetsk a deliberate attack on civilians. The town's mayor estimated about 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 mid-air, spraying small 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.
In Washington, a senior defence official said the United States was "not buying the denial by the Russians that they weren't responsible", and believed Kyrylenko correctly identified the type of missile used in the 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.
Zelenskiy told Finland's parliament in a video address that no Ukrainian troops were at the station.
"We expect a firm global response to this war crime," he said later in a speech posted online.
Moscow has denied targeting civilians since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 in what Russia calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" its neighbour.
Kyiv and Western supporters call that a pretext for an unprovoked invasion that has displaced a quarter of the population and killed or injured thousands.
Ukrainian officials now expect an attempt by Russian forces to gain full control of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk, 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..
The White House said it would support attempts to investigate the attack in Kramatorsk.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it showed "the depths to which Putin's vaunted army has sunk".
At least 52 people have died in the incident, Pavlo Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said in an online post.
The wreckage of the missile bore the words "(This is) 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 that 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 say hundreds of dead civilians have 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.
Russian forces have failed to take any major cities so far, confronted by unexpectedly strong resistance and dogged by what Western intelligence officials say have been logistical, supply and morale problems.
Kyiv wants deliveries of heavier armaments and on Thursday secured a new commitment from the NATO alliance to supply a wide range of weapons.
Residents of areas north of Kyiv were meanwhile still coming to terms with a month-long occupation.
In the village of Yahidne, residents recounted how more than 300 people were trapped for weeks in a school basement, with names of those who did not survive or were killed by soldiers scrawled on the wall.
Reuters was not able to verify independently the accounts. Reporters saw one freshly dug grave and two bodies wrapped in white plastic sheets.
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A man's body has been recovered from floodwaters southwest of Sydney and further evacuation orders have been issued as the SES works through its toughest season in living memory.
While heavy rains are forecast to ease Friday, a large amount of water dumped on saturated catchments meant flooding would continue on Friday night and Saturday.
"Although that rain has eased we're still seeing a flooding threat in some communities," NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Dean Storey told the ABC.
He said river rises were continuing through the Hawkesbury-Nepean and evacuation orders remained in placed in a number of low-lying suburbs.
"We're urging people in those communities to remain vigilant," Mr Storey said.
About 1200 people were affected by the evacuation orders, and warnings to leave covered a further 1500 people.
Rivers heights in the Hawkesbury-Nepean are expected to peak on Friday night and Saturday morning.
"Hopefully we'll be able to lift those evacuation orders and evacuation warnings as soon as it's safe to do so," Mr Storey said.
The recent series of severe weather events had taken a toll on communities and SES rescuers, he said.
"It has been a very tough few months for communities across NSW including in Western Sydney with multiple, major weather events," Mr Storey said.
"It is heartbreaking. It's been a very tough storm season, one of the toughest in recent memory for the SES."
The SES has taken 710 calls for help and carried out 53 rescues in the last 24 hours, and a total 2349 calls for help and 710 rescues since the rain event began Monday.
More than 1200 SES volunteers have been on the ground on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, the body of a 68-year-old man was found in a submerged van southwest of Sydney before 8am.
His body was retrieved about 1pm following an operation by police divers and the SES but he is yet to be formally identified.
On Friday afternoon residents in Sackville North, parts of Ebenezer, Leets Vale and Pitt Town Bottoms were told to evacuate due to rising floodwaters, adding to a total list of 13 orders to leave in 11 different suburbs.
Residents in Chipping Norton, Woronora and Bonnet Bay in Sydney's southwest were given the all-clear to return home after being ordered to evacuate on Thursday.
The Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley is being monitored after moderate flooding at North Richmond, Windsor, Menangle, Camden and Wallacia on Friday.
Minor flood levels had also peaked at Penrith and Sackville on Friday but remained steady on Friday afternoon, and water continues to spill at Warragamba Dam.
"Despite the substantial flooding that we've seen across our state, what is incredibly pleasing has been that we've only lost a very few amount of lives, and that has occurred because of the efforts that everyone has made across our state in following the instructions of the SES," NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said Friday.
Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said the state had flood fatigue but people needed to keep following the advice of emergency services.
"It will stop raining, it will get better," Ms Cooke said.
"We just need to keep (getting) through this one day at a time."
The BoM's Jane Golding also warned flooding would continue despite rain easing.
"We do have flood warnings current, though, so although the rain is easing ... the rivers will be moving quickly (and) there's a lot of debris flowing around," she said.
Some 155 public schools were closed Friday due to adverse weather, predominantly around Greater Sydney, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions, the NSW education department said.
Flood watches have been lifted for rivers in the Central and South Coast.
A major flood peak above levels seen during the April 1988 floods passed through Menangle on Thursday afternoon, and waters are falling in the area.
At Wallacia, the Nepean peaked on Friday morning at moderate flood levels, and waters are falling.
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Scott Morrison has accused the opposition leader of not presenting his true self ahead of the upcoming federal election, as speculation mounts about when the prime minister will call the poll.
While the prime minister attempted to shrug off concerns voiced by his own MPs about his popularity, Mr Morrison accused Labor leader Anthony Albanese of attempting to avoid scrutiny before the election.
"Anthony Albanese has ducked and weaved, he's pretending to be everybody under the sun except himself," he told reporters in Avalon, outside of Melbourne, on Friday.
"Election campaigns are an opportunity for Australians to make a choice ... you make a choice about who you're going to vote for and that choice has a consequence."
Speculation continues to mount on when Mr Morrison will call the election, with Australians set to go to the polls on either May 14 or May 21.
The prime minister said it would not be far away when the election was called.
"Electoral terms are for three years. The last election was on May 18 (2019) and the next election will be held about the same time," Mr Morrison said.
On Friday afternoon, parliamentary officials issued a program for the scheduled House of Representatives sitting starting on Monday.
The draft legislation program focuses on budget-related bills over the four-day sitting, but also includes much-vaunted anti-trolling laws and cuts to business red tape.
A May 21 election would not need to be called until after next week.
Mr Albanese accused the prime minister of attempting to delay the election so taxpayer funds could still be used for government advertising.
"This absurdity of not having the election called so that they can continue to spend taxpayer funds on election ads that are in the name of the government, but they're really about promoting the Liberal National parties ... call the election, let the Australian people decide," he told reporters in Adelaide.
"I feel like putting in a phone call to the prime minister if he doesn't know where the Governor-General lives, and offer him a lift."
Mr Albanese also criticised the government making numerous last-minute appointments of former Liberal MPs and coalition staffers to Commonwealth bodies.
"Surely there are now no more Liberal former state MPs, federal MPs, local councillors or mayors to appoint to these bodies," he said.
Meanwhile, Liberal MP Katie Allen said voters weren't happy with the prime minister and that his unpopularity could hurt re-election chances for Liberals in key Victorian seats.
Ms Higgins represents the Melbourne seat of Higgins, a must win electorate for the coalition, with the Liberals only holding it by 3.8 per cent.
Mr Morrison conceded not all of his policies had been fully accepted by voters and said he was not perfect.
Labor's candidate for the hotly contested Sydney seat of Hughes has pulled out following citizenship concerns.
Peter Tsambalas withdrew from the race after fears he could fall foul of section 44 of the constitution, which prevents someone standing for parliament if they have citizenship to another country.
Mr Tsambalas acquire a dual citizenship with Greece through his migrant parents.
The prime minister is also awaiting the result of a special leave application to the High Court by expelled NSW Liberal member Matthew Camenzuli.
Mr Camenzuli is challenging the federal executive's ability to intervene in the selection of NSW Liberal candidates for the election.
A federal panel comprising Mr Morrison, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and former party president Chris McDiven stepped in to save ministers Sussan Ley and Alex Hawke, and backbencher Trent Zimmerman from being dumped as candidates.
The High Court will decide whether to allow special leave to hear the application at 4pm on Friday.
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A potential hurdle to Scott Morrison calling an election this weekend has been removed.
The High Court on Friday afternoon dismissed a special leave application to challenge the way Mr Morrison and the federal executive intervened to choose candidates in NSW.
Chief Justice Susan Kiefel said there were "insufficient prospects of success to warrant leave" for former Liberal member Matthew Camenzuli to challenge the intervention.
A successful challenge could have put as many as 12 NSW Liberal candidates at risk, causing huge damage to Mr Morrison's chances of retaining power.
Earlier, the prime minister campaigned in Victoria, shrugging off concerns voiced by his own MPs about his popularity and accusing Labor leader Anthony Albanese of attempting to avoid scrutiny before the election.
"Anthony Albanese has ducked and weaved, he's pretending to be everybody under the sun except himself," he told reporters in Avalon, outside of Melbourne, on Friday.
"Election campaigns are an opportunity for Australians to make a choice ... you make a choice about who you're going to vote for and that choice has a consequence."
Australians are expected to go to the polls on either May 14 or May 21.
The prime minister said it would not be far away when the election was called.
"Electoral terms are for three years. The last election was on May 18 (2019) and the next election will be held about the same time," Mr Morrison said.
On Friday afternoon, parliamentary officials issued a program for the scheduled House of Representatives sitting starting on Monday, but it is not expected to go ahead.
Mr Albanese, who was in Adelaide talking about the quality of aged care, accused the prime minister of attempting to delay the election so taxpayer funds could still be used for government advertising.
"This absurdity of not having the election called so that they can continue to spend taxpayer funds on election ads that are in the name of the government, but they're really about promoting the Liberal National parties ... call the election, let the Australian people decide," he said.
"I feel like putting in a phone call to the prime minister if he doesn't know where the Governor-General lives, and offer him a lift."
Mr Albanese also criticised the government making numerous last-minute appointments of former Liberal MPs and coalition staffers to Commonwealth bodies.
"Surely there are now no more Liberal former state MPs, federal MPs, local councillors or mayors to appoint to these bodies," he said.
Meanwhile, Liberal MP Katie Allen said voters weren't happy with the prime minister and that his unpopularity could hurt re-election chances for Liberals in key Victorian seats.
Ms Higgins represents the Melbourne seat of Higgins, a must win electorate for the coalition, with the Liberals only holding it by 3.8 per cent.
Mr Morrison conceded not all of his policies had been fully accepted by voters and said he was not perfect.
Labor's campaign took a minor hit, with its candidate for the hotly contested Sydney seat of Hughes pulling out following citizenship concerns.
Peter Tsambalas withdrew from the race after fears he could fall foul of section 44 of the constitution, which prevents someone standing for parliament if they have citizenship to another country.
Mr Tsambalas acquire a dual citizenship with Greece through his migrant parents.
The MP for Hughes, Craig Kelly, found himself in trouble at a Melbourne campaign event, being hit with an egg by a protester.
The coalition's prospects of holding a Senate seat in the Northern Territory were put at risk with Senator Sam McMahon signing up as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats.
© AAP 2022
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