Ukraine disappointed by UN's 'lack of clarity' on Russian civilian killings in Chaplyne

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is disappointed by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator's Office's lack of a clear position on the rocket shelling of Russia at the Chaplyne train station on August 24. Ukraine claims that Russian shelling killed 25 civilians, including two children.

Spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Nikolenko, wrote said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is disappointed by the lack of a clear position of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator's Office in Ukraine regarding the rocket shelling of Russia at the Chaplin train station on August 24, which resulted in the death of twenty-five civilians, including two children. I remind you that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation publicly confessed to committing this war crime."

Russia, on the other hand, claims that 200 Ukrainian troops were killed in a railway station attack in central Ukraine. According to Nikolenko, the UN High Representative's calls for "all sides" to follow international humanitarian law appear disconnected from reality. He went on to say that comparing a victim to an aggressor is completely unacceptable.

Nikolenko added, "We calculate that the UN structures, which we are grateful for the organization of the humanitarian response, will be able to use their presence in Ukraine to figure out which party has to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law, bombing Ch Apline and other Ukrainian cities and villages."

The Chaplyne railway station attack

According to Kyiv, the attack killed 25 people, including two children. An 11-year-old boy was discovered under a house's rubble, and a six-year-old was killed in a car fire near the train station, according to Ukrainian officials. It is unclear whether all of those killed in the attack were civilians. On August 25, Russia's defence ministry stated that the train was "en route to combat zones" in the eastern Donbass region, which Moscow seeks to fully control.

Moscow also claimed to have destroyed eight Ukrainian fighter jets in strikes on air bases in the Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine. On August 24, the train station strike coincided with Ukraine's Independence Day and the six-month anniversary of Russia's invasion. Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow might try "something particularly cruel" this week.

Image: AP