Ukraine’s Independence Day  was marred by the news of a Russian air strike that hit a train at Chaplyne, Dnipro region, claiming the lives of 22 people and leaving 50 more wounded.

The news was broken by Ukraine’s president Vladymyr Zelensky ahead of his video speech at the UN.

‘Chaplyne is our pain today. As of this moment, there are 22 dead, five of them burned in the car, an 11-year-old teenager died,’ said Zelensky,  adding that the death toll could increase as rescue operations continue.

The first accounts from Chaplyne put the figure of the strike casualties at 15. The president added, we will make the occupiers to bear responsibility for everything they have done and will for sure drive them away from our land’.

Ukraine’s foreign minister posted the photos from the airstrike site, calling Russia a ‘terrorist’ country.

He also quoted Zelensky’s words: ‘terrorist Russia must be stopped now before it kills more people in Ukraine and beyond its borders’.