The Sunday Times - UK (2022-04-10)

The Sunday Times April 10, 2022 2GN 7

NEWS

Boris Johnson

and President

Zelensky,

who led him

to the offices

in Kyiv where

their meeting

was held

day. The latter includes anti-tank and

anti-aircraft systems and so-called sui-

cide drones, which loiter over the battle-

field before attacking their target.

Ukraine has appealed to western nations

to send more arms as it prepares for a

Russian offensive in the east.

Andriy Sybiha, deputy head of the

Ukrainian president’s office, said after

Johnson’s announcement: “The UK is the

leader in defence support for Ukraine.”

Johnson’s visit came the day after

Ursula von der Leyen, the European

Commission president, went to meet Zel-

ensky. She also visited the town of Bucha,

where Russian troops have been accused

of killing 300 civilians.

Preparations for Johnson’s trip had

been in motion for several weeks. He

asked officials to look into the possibility

after the Polish, Czech and Slovenian

prime ministers visited the capital while

it was under bombardment in the middle

of last month. Detailed plans were drawn

up in recent days after the security situa-

tion in Kyiv stabilised with the with-

drawal of Russian forces. Artillery

attacks on the city have also stopped.

The plans remained a tightly guarded

secret shared by fewer than a dozen sen-

ior aides and ministers, but attempts to

keep it that way until after Johnson had

left the country were scuppered when

Ukraine’s embassy in London posted a

photograph on Twitter of the pair. The

picture emerged without the authorisa-

Station

became

a killing

zone

evening they had resorted to

spouting absurd claims that

the Ukrainians had bombed

their own people from a

nearby town. But no amount

of lies can hide what

happened here. There were

hundreds of witnesses,

dozens of bodies.

The Russians knew there

were civilians at the station.

For days photos and videos

had been shared online

showing people desperately

trying to make their way on to

packed trains heading west to

relative safety. Thousands

had already fled.

Many had waited to the last

moment, enduring five weeks

of war, unwilling to abandon

their homes. But when local

officials called for civilians to

evacuate Donbas — part of

which has been controlled by

pro-Russian separatists since

2014 — they listened. They

believed a Russian offensive

was about to begin, and

were hoping to escape the

horrors — murder, torture,

rape — uncovered in places

such as Bucha after Russia’s

retreat.

Instead they were

attacked. In a Kramatorsk

hospital, Alla Lukianova, who

works in logistics, sat on her

hospital bed wincing in pain,

one shoulder covered in a

sheet. She had stepped out of

the station to get some water,

leaving her mother, Viktoria,

and daughter, Valeria, 17,

inside. When the missile

detonated, shrapnel ripped

into the back of her jacket,

soaking her clothes in blood.

Her family were unhurt.

“We were just trying to

leave,” said Lukianova, 37.

Two rooms down lay Olga

Dmitrieva, 65, who had gone

to the station with her

husband after her daughter

finally persuaded them to

leave their home in the town

of Kostyantynivka and try to

catch a train to Kyiv.

Her husband had gone off

to buy some buns for the

journey, leaving her to look

after the bags, when, for a

split second, she saw the

rocket fly past. Then she

heard a loud explosion.

“Several people fell on

me,” she said. “I could hear

children screaming, people

crying. They were saying,

‘You bastard, what did we

ever do to you?’ They knew

what they were targeting.

Only civilians were here.”

Both of Dmitrieva’s legs

were seriously injured by

shrapnel. Paramedics

performing triage at the

from the missile had, he said,

turned an area the size of

several tennis courts,

thronged with civilians, into a

killing zone. To the right side

of the station, where a small

group of volunteers had set

up a tent to help people find

their trains, the ground was

smeared with blood.

Scattered everywhere

were the belongings of

families who had hastily

packed and prepared to flee.

Packed lunches had spilt out

of plastic bags and clothes

burst from suitcases — a small

pink and blue T-shirt, a pair of

blue pants. An undamaged

apple lay beside a cuddly toy

horse soaked in blood.

Inside a ruined train that

had been waiting in the

station, a child’s drawing lay

among broken glass. On the

ground to the left of the

station entrance was part of a

woman’s hand, the manicure

on her thumb still intact.

The dead had been cleared

away by the time we arrived

on Friday afternoon but

videos shot moments after

the attack showed figures

lying motionless on the

ground or reaching up to

survivors. Some of their

suitcases still stood upright.

The bodies were not even

cold by the time the Kremlin’s

disinformation machine

kicked into action. Moments

after the attack, a pro-Russia

separatist channel claimed

Russian forces had launched

a strike on what they said

were Ukrainian military

targets at the train station.

The post was deleted after the

extent of the civilian

casualties became clear.

Then the Russian defence

ministry claimed that Russia

did not possess Tochka-U

rockets, despite the fact they

had been paraded in training

exercises in the months

before the war. By that

→Continued from page 1

station had written a number

5 on her cheek to show that

she had been treated for

acute blood loss. A dark stain

from a small head wound had

leaked on to her pillow.

“What did we do? Why are

we being killed?” she asked,

lying under thick blankets. “I

want Putin to experience

everything that Ukrainian

people and Ukrainian

families have.”

Yet this strike, the armed

forces have cautioned, could

be just the start of a wave of

slaughter as the Kremlin,

having failed to capture Kyiv,

prepares to launch an

offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian military

commanders are convinced

that Russian forces are

hoping to be in a position to

declare victory by May 9,

which is celebrated in Russia

as the day the Nazis were

defeated in 1945.

In preparation, the

Ukrainians are reinforcing

positions in the east already

heavily fortified after eight

years of war. Enormous

entrenchments have been

freshly dug along highways.

Reserve forces, commanders

say, are arriving every day.

“Everyone can see [from]

the number of troops,

satellite shots, they’re

gathering everything they

can, they gather new troops,

new contingents. We

understand the danger,” said

Captain Ilko Bozhko,

spokesman for the

operational command in the

east of Ukraine.

“They will flatten an entire

village with its population...

they don’t care.”

This knowledge, he said,

had informed the Ukrainian

government and military’s

decision to call for civilians in

the eastern provinces to

evacuate. “To avoid

situations like Bucha. To

avoid situations like

Mariupol,” Bozhko said.

But it was too late for

those killed in Kramatorsk’s

railway station.

“The Russians are not

soldiers,” said Vadym, an

artist who was helping secure

the hospital grounds, as he

stood in the inpatient ward.

“Soldiers fight against

soldiers, not against women

and children.”

Additional reporting:

Viktoria Sybir

Alla Lukianova, a survivor of the strike on Kramatorsk

station that killed 52 people, including five children

tion of UK officials. Johnson remained in

the country several hours after it was

made public and is expected to arrive

back in the UK today.

Johnson said last night: “It is a privi-

lege to be able to travel to Ukraine and

meet President Zelensky in person.

Ukraine has defied the odds and pushed

back Russian forces from the gates of

Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms

of the 21st century.

“It is because of President Zelensky’s

resolute leadership and the invincible

heroism and courage of the Ukrainian

people that Putin’s monstrous aims are

being thwarted. The UK stands unwaver-

ingly with them in this fight, and we are

in it for the long run.”

Zelensky has ‘courage of a lion’, says

PM as he goes walkabout in Kyiv

Boris Johnson secretly travelled to meet

President Zelensky yesterday in Kyiv,

where he promised new lethal aid for

Ukraine including armoured vehicles

and anti-ship missiles.

The prime minister left the UK on

Friday evening with a small delegation of

officials, arriving at the Polish border

yesterday morning. He was then

escorted to the Ukrainian capital, where

he held a one-to-one meeting with Zelen-

sky yesterday afternoon at the Mariinskyi

Palace, the presidential residence. The

pair were also pictured walking through

the streets of Kyiv after the meeting.

It is the first time Johnson has travelled

to Ukraine since the invasion began on

February 24. In a televised statement

released last night, Johnson said Ukraini-

ans had shown “the courage of a lion”

and told Zelensky he had “given the roar

of that lion”.

He added: “I thank you for what you

have been able to do: your leadership has

been extraordinary. I think what Putin

has done in places like Bucha and Irpin —

his war crimes have permanently pol-

luted his reputation and [that] of his

government.

“It’s clear that he has suffered a defeat,

but his retreat is tactical and he is going

to intensify the pressure now in Donbas

and in the east. That’s why it’s so vital, as

you rightly say, Volodymyr, that we, your

friends, continue to offer whatever sup-

port we can.”

He also said the UK would work with

western allies to provide Ukraine with the

“equipment, the technology, the know-

how, the intelligence” to ensure it would

never be invaded again. “Having been

here in Kyiv for just a few hours ... I have

no doubt at all that an independent, sov-

ereign Ukraine will rise again, thanks

above all to the heroism, the courage, of

the people of Ukraine.”

After Johnson’s visit, Downing Street

announced he had ordered 120

armoured vehicles and anti-ship missile

systems to help defend key ports. It was

revealed last weekend that Johnson

wanted to supply missiles to sink Russian

warships that are bombarding Mariupol

and Odesa.

Johnson confirmed further economic

support in the form of £385 million in

World Bank guarantees, in addition to the

£100 million of UK military assistance for

the Ukrainian forces announced on Fri-

Harry Yorke

Deputy Political Editor

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE

The UK

is the

leader in

defence

support

for our

country

Alla Lukianova was hit by shrapnel at Kramatorsk station

WAR IN UKRAINE

Reports, pages 17-

JOHN BECK FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES