At least 52 people, including five children, have been killed in a rocket attack on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk that is being used for civilian evacuations, according to Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky described Russia as an "evil with no limits" after the attack and called for a "firm global response".
US president Joe Biden accused Russia of being behind the attack, calling it a "horrific atrocity", while French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian deemed it a "crime against humanity".
Russia's defence ministry accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack, saying it wanted to use fleeing residents "as a 'human shield' to defend the positions of Ukraine's Armed Forces".
Photos taken after the attack showed corpses covered with tarpaulins, and the remnants of a rocket painted with the words “For the children" in Russian. The Russian phrasing seemed to suggest the missile was sent to avenge the loss or subjugation of children, although its exact meaning remained unclear.
The attack came as workers elsewhere in the country unearthed bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, where graphic evidence of dozens of killings emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” Zelensky said.
The New Arab is providing live updates of what's been happening on the ground and additional analysis on the conflict's significance.