Zürcher Nachrichten - UK PM visits Ukraine after deadly railway station attack

EUR -
AED 3.967942
AFN 77.324316
ALL 99.294066
AMD 422.287408
ANG 1.93397
AOA 990.639478
ARS 1159.010017
AUD 1.71413
AWG 1.947249
AZN 1.836578
BAM 1.956668
BBD 2.180568
BDT 131.238242
BGN 1.957494
BHD 0.407188
BIF 3209.824492
BMD 1.080304
BND 1.451244
BOB 7.462312
BRL 6.1236
BSD 1.079979
BTN 92.310967
BWP 14.947634
BYN 3.534268
BYR 21173.966824
BZD 2.169263
CAD 1.547477
CDF 3103.714416
CHF 0.954227
CLF 0.026683
CLP 1023.923577
CNY 7.85403
CNH 7.861154
COP 4499.629996
CRC 542.540775
CUC 1.080304
CUP 28.628067
CVE 110.313956
CZK 24.963354
DJF 192.315348
DKK 7.461144
DOP 68.200267
DZD 144.67225
EGP 54.63391
ERN 16.204566
ETB 142.965047
FJD 2.517703
FKP 0.83802
GBP 0.834508
GEL 2.981617
GGP 0.83802
GHS 16.741815
GIP 0.83802
GMD 77.90337
GNF 9345.931385
GTQ 8.334868
GYD 226.790265
HKD 8.406718
HNL 27.622852
HRK 7.533715
HTG 141.078347
HUF 403.609798
IDR 18096.181455
ILS 3.998477
IMP 0.83802
INR 92.482752
IQD 1413.641819
IRR 45459.082174
ISK 143.913941
JEP 0.83802
JMD 169.081799
JOD 0.76588
JPY 161.174964
KES 139.615046
KGS 93.367656
KHR 4316.070833
KMF 492.954431
KPW 972.280671
KRW 1591.278891
KWD 0.333119
KYD 0.898525
KZT 543.839812
LAK 23379.567816
LBP 96570.53158
LKR 319.081266
LRD 216.018799
LSL 19.809457
LTL 3.189859
LVL 0.653465
LYD 5.204117
MAD 10.402892
MDL 19.421485
MGA 5051.880988
MKD 61.568244
MMK 2267.986314
MNT 3760.25671
MOP 8.657971
MRU 42.943558
MUR 49.285269
MVR 16.680361
MWK 1872.196091
MXN 21.989273
MYR 4.793305
MZN 69.017972
NAD 19.809457
NGN 1659.603081
NIO 39.724769
NOK 11.275472
NPR 148.041765
NZD 1.88167
OMR 0.415902
PAB 1.080304
PEN 3.972097
PGK 4.428474
PHP 61.911735
PKR 302.611908
PLN 4.195843
PYG 8593.611468
QAR 3.932315
RON 4.987798
RSD 117.419998
RUB 91.675564
RWF 1535.109837
SAR 4.050871
SBD 9.182375
SCR 15.557638
SDG 648.746723
SEK 10.76356
SGD 1.451517
SHP 0.84895
SLE 24.603912
SLL 22653.44491
SOS 616.379778
SRD 40.085368
STD 22360.120571
SVC 9.452454
SYP 14045.961696
SZL 19.809457
THB 36.892808
TJS 11.758751
TMT 3.778964
TND 3.35685
TOP 2.60184
TRY 40.957976
TTD 7.325636
TWD 35.904826
TZS 2861.115011
UAH 44.615362
UGX 3947.904336
USD 1.080304
UYU 45.573275
UZS 13956.846588
VES 75.172309
VND 27705.289404
VUV 133.291442
WST 3.0653
XAF 657.272575
XAG 0.032022
XAU 0.000346
XCD 2.924752
XDR 0.813245
XOF 657.272575
XPF 119.331742
YER 265.769471
ZAR 20.12255
ZMK 9724.033513
ZMW 30.290151
ZWL 347.857586
  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    68

    0%

  • CMSC

    -0.0200

    22.42

    -0.09%

  • GSK

    -0.4530

    37.417

    -1.21%

  • AZN

    -0.0200

    72.58

    -0.03%

  • BP

    -0.0850

    33.725

    -0.25%

  • NGG

    0.1200

    65.9

    +0.18%

  • BTI

    -0.6650

    40.435

    -1.64%

  • SCS

    0.0850

    11.405

    +0.75%

  • RELX

    0.0600

    50.73

    +0.12%

  • BCC

    1.0050

    99.915

    +1.01%

  • RIO

    -0.5800

    59.65

    -0.97%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1800

    9.87

    -1.82%

  • CMSD

    -0.0400

    22.78

    -0.18%

  • JRI

    -0.0220

    12.958

    -0.17%

  • BCE

    -0.6700

    22.11

    -3.03%

  • VOD

    -0.1350

    9.135

    -1.48%

UK PM visits Ukraine after deadly railway station attack

UK PM visits Ukraine after deadly railway station attack

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid an unannounced visit to Kyiv Saturday in a "show of solidarity" with Ukraine a day after a missile strike killed dozens at a railway station in the country's east.

Text size:

Six weeks into Russia's invasion, Moscow has shifted its focus to eastern and southern Ukraine after stiff resistance ended plans to swiftly capture the capital.

Western leaders mobilised to back President Volodymyr Zelensky as details emerged of the devastating attack on Kramatorsk's station with civilians seeking to flee a feared Russian offensive.

Johnson tweeted that Britain was "setting out a new package of financial and military aid which is a testament of our commitment to his country's struggle against Russia's barbaric campaign".

As part of the solidarity campaign, a global pledging event for Ukrainian refugees raised 10.1 billion euros ($11 billion), European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in Warsaw.

With thousands killed in fighting and more than 11 million fleeing their homes or the country, Zelensky said the Kramatorsk strike marked a fresh atrocity that required Western action.

"This is another Russian war crime for which everyone involved will be held accountable," he said in a video message, calling for "a firm global response to this war crime".

Zelensky later said he was "still ready" to continue talks with Russia to resolve the conflict, after talks with visiting Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

US President Joe Biden accused Russia of being behind a "horrific atrocity" in Kramatorsk, the de facto capital of the Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk region, and France condemned the strike as a "crime against humanity".

Moscow denied responsibility for the rocket attack on Friday morning, which killed 52 people including five children and injured a further 109 victims, according to the latest official count.

The Ukrainian president said the bombing had been reported in Russia before the missiles had even landed and called for more weaponry to counter Moscow's aggression.

"I am sure that the victory of Ukraine is just a matter of time, and I will do everything to reduce this time," he added.

- 'For our children' -

Minibuses assembled at a church in Kramatorsk to collect shaken evacuees on Saturday. Almost 80 people, most of them elderly, took shelter overnight in the building, not far from the targeted station.

"There were around 300 to 400 people who rushed here after the strike," Yevgeny, a member of the Protestant church, told AFP.

"They were traumatised. Half of them ran to shelter in the cellar, others wanted to leave as soon as possible. Some were evacuated by bus in the afternoon (on Friday)."

The station in Kramatorsk was being used as the main evacuation hub for refugees from the parts of the eastern Donbas region still under Ukrainian control.

AFP reporters at the station saw the remains of the missile tagged in white paint with the words "for our children" in Russian. The expression is frequently used by pro-Russian separatists in reference to their losses since the start of the first Donbas war in 2014.

The governor of Donetsk claimed a missile with cluster munitions was used in the attack, according to remarks published by the Interfax news agency.

The strike came as von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell were in Kyiv for talks with Zelensky and to visit the scene of civilian killings in Bucha.

Russia faces "decay" because of ever tougher sanctions and Ukraine had a "European future", von der Leyen said at a news conference with Zelensky.

"My instinct says: If this is not a war crime, what is a war crime?" she said of the Bucha killings, calling for a thorough investigation.

Russian troops appear to be seeking to create a long-sought land link between occupied Crimea and the Moscow-backed separatist territories of Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbas region.

"It's clear that the war will be decided in the battle of Donbas," Borrell said on Saturday as he and von der Leyen left Ukraine.

Civilians have been urged to flee the heavy shelling there that has laid waste to towns and complicated evacuation efforts.

The defence ministry in Moscow said Saturday that Russian forces had destroyed an ammunition depot in the Dnipro region, and struck 85 Ukrainian military targets in the previous 24 hours.

"There is no secret -- the battle for Donbas will be decisive. What we have already experienced -- all this horror -- it can multiply," warned Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday.

In the south, the Black Sea port city of Odessa braced for rocket attacks, imposing a weekend curfew.

Residents and Ukrainian officials returning after a Russian withdrawal from an area near Kyiv, meanwhile, were taking stock of the scale of the devastation.

Bucha -- where authorities say hundreds were killed, some with their hands bound -- has become a byword for the brutality allegedly inflicted under Russian occupation.

But Zelensky warned worse was being uncovered.

"They have started sorting through the ruins in Borodianka," northwest of Kyiv, he said. "It is much more horrific there. There are even more victims of Russian occupiers."

- Sanctions bite -

Moscow has denied targeting civilians, but growing evidence of atrocities has galvanised Ukraine's allies in the EU, which has approved an embargo on Russian coal and the closure of its ports to Russian vessels.

The bloc has frozen 30 billion euros in assets from Russian and Belarusian individuals and companies, it said Friday.

It also blacklisted Putin's two adult daughters and more than 200 others as part of its latest sanctions package, according to an official list.

The United States and Britain had already sanctioned the Russian leader's daughters.

Borrell has pledged the EU would supply 7.5 million euros to train Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate war crimes allegedly committed by Russia. He was to meet with the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on Sunday.

Ukraine has welcomed new pressure on Moscow, but it continues to push for harsher sanctions and more heavy weaponry.

 

Britain said Friday it was sending Ukraine more "high-grade military equipment" including Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles and 800 anti-tank missiles, while Slovakia said it had given Ukraine an S-300 air defence system.

Western companies have joined the effort to isolate Russia, with US video hosting service YouTube blocking the channel of the Russian lower house of parliament. Russian officials warned of reprisals.

As sanctions bite, credit rating agency S and P Global Ratings downgraded Russia's foreign currency payments rating to "selective default" after Moscow paid a dollar-denominated debt in rubles this week.

burs-dlc/gw

G.Kuhn--NZN