Ukrainian authorities say Russian shelling of a train station kills a police officer and injures four others.
Workers decorate the wall of the regional administration building with a huge national flag to mark one year since Ukrainian troops cleared Kherson from the Russian army [File: Efrem Lukatsky/AP]
Ukrainian officials say at least one person has been killed and four others injured in a Russian attack on a rail station in the southern city of Kherson, as Russia’s invasion continues to take a heavy toll on Ukrainian civilians.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenk said the Russian shelling struck the rail station on Tuesday as about 140 people there were preparing for an evacuation, killing a policeman.
“Thanks to the clear actions of the police, everyone was successfully taken to safe places,” Klymenko said on Telegram.
“Unfortunately, a police lieutenant from the Kirovohrad region lost his life due to the shelling … Two more police officers are in the hospital with shrapnel wounds.”
The city was captured by Russian forces after they first invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but were pushed out of the city by a Ukrainian counteroffensive in November of the same year. But Russian forces have continued to bombard the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported the shelling attack earlier on Tuesday, and two civilians are being treated at a hospital for shrapnel wounds alongside the two wounded police officers.
The Ukrainian railway company Ukrzaliznytsya said in a message on Telegram that a train and the station were damaged but that “the situation is under control and the railway is ready to continue functioning.”
Roman Mrochko, the head of the Kherson military administration, had said earlier on Tuesday that the city has been targeted for the last day by persistent Russian attacks.
The war in Ukraine has continued to kill and injure many civilians, and the conflict has shown few signs of abating soon.
Ukrainian fighters struck a Russian ship in the Black Sea on Tuesday, boosting the morale of Ukrainian forces that have faced difficult questions after a much-anticipated counteroffensive failed to win back substantial territory from Russia over the summer.
“This latest destruction of Putin’s navy demonstrates that those who believe there’s a stalemate in the Ukraine war are wrong!” UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
