Sun | Jul 5, 2026

More flee as Ukraine warns of stepped-up Russian attacks

Published:Saturday | April 9, 2022 | 2:58 PM
In this image provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (centre) and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson (centre left) walk in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 9, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Civilian evacuations moved forward in patches of battle-scarred eastern Ukraine on Saturday, a day after a missile strike killed at least 52 people and wounded more than 100 at a train station where thousands clamoured to leave before an expected Russian onslaught.

In the wake of the attack in Kramatorsk, several European leaders made efforts to show solidarity with Ukraine, with the Austrian chancellor and British prime minister visiting Kyiv — the capital city that Russia failed to capture and where troops retreated days ago.

UK. Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where Johnson's office said they discussed Britain's “long-term support.”

Zelenskyy noted the increased support in an Associated Press interview but expressed frustration when asked if weapons and other equipment Ukraine has received from the West is sufficient to shift the war's outcome.

“Not yet,” he said, switching to English for emphasis.

“Of course it's not enough.”

More than six weeks after Russia first invaded Ukraine, it has pulled its troops from the northern part of the country, around Kyiv, and refocused on the Donbas region in the east.

Western military analysts said an arc of territory in eastern Ukraine was under Russian control, from Kharkiv — Ukraine's second-largest city — in the north to Kherson in the south.

But Ukrainian counterattacks are threatening Russian control of Kherson, according to the Western assessments, and Ukrainian forces are repelling Russian assaults elsewhere in the Donbas region in the southeast.

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