Boris Johnson today condemned Russia’s ‘war crime’ attack on Ukrainian civilians who were trying to flee at a train station.
The Prime Minister blasted the “unconscionable” strike saying “Russian crimes in Ukraine will not go unnoticed or unpunished” as Ukraine said the death toll had risen to 50.
Local officials said the people including five children were killed and many more were wounded and lost limbs in a rocket strike at a packed station in Kramatorsk.
President Zelensky called the strike on the station, which is in the eastern region of Donetsk, a deliberate attack on civilians.
Boris Johnson today announced the UK would be sending £100m of military equipment to Ukraine including more Starstreak missiles, 800 anti-tank missiles and “precision munitions”.
Speaking alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he did not rule out sending tanks to Ukraine, saying he would consider “anything” that is “defensive weaponry”.
"The Europe we knew just six weeks ago no longer exists", the Prime Minister warned.
He told a No10 press conference: "The attack at the train station in eastern Ukraine shows the depth to which Putin's once vaunted army has sunk.
"At least 39 people killed and dozens wounded on a train platform crowded with women and children.
"It is a war crime indiscriminately to attack civilians and Russian crimes in Ukraine will not go unnoticed or unpunished."
Officials believe the train station was likely hit by a short-range Russian missile that was fired “indiscriminately” into the town centre.
A Western official said: “We know the Russian forces have the SS-21 Scarab, we know it’s got a range of about 120km.
“It’s not the most accurate of weapons systems - firing a weapons system which has got about a 30-metre circular area of probability of its accuracy in an area like that is going to cause significant casualties.
“I think our assessment would be that whilst we cannot formally attribute, given the nature of the location of the strike and the impact it’s had, it looks to me likely that that’s a Russian SS-21 which has been fired indiscriminately into the centre of the town hitting the railway station.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he and Mr Johnson were united in their "horror and indignation" at Russian actions in Ukraine.
"It is atrocious. It is an atrocious war," he told the joint press conference.
"Killing civilians is a war crime and the Russian president bears responsibility for these war crimes."
Mr Scholz reiterated his call on Russia to agree a ceasefire and withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
He stressed the importance of sanctions and said Germany was already starting to "wean off" its dependency on Russian hydrocarbons.
It came as a Western official said the withdrawal of Russian units in northern Ukraine has been “pretty hasty” with a “collapse of morale” among some of Putin’s troops.
They added “some degree of breakdown of discipline” has “led to them fleeing” in the north with equipment abandoned.
But other Russian units are being prepared to attack the Donbas region, with forces readying near Izyum and officials believing Russian troops could be redeployed from Mariupol.
Western officials warned the battle in Donbas will be more in line with Russia’s traditional military doctrines than the “ham-fisted” attempts in the north of Ukraine so far.
A Western official said Russia would likely launch operations in Donbas “sooner rather than later” with “as much of their force as they can into that”.
