15 reported killed in Independence Day attack on rail station in Ukraine

Ukrainian servicemen fire to Russian positions from anti-aircraft gun in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine (Andrii Marienko/AP)

Russian forces have launched a rocket attack on a railway station in central Ukraine on the country’s Independence Day, killing at least 15 people and wounding about 50, according to Ukraine’s president.

The lethal strike on Wednesday came after warnings from President Volodymyr Zelensky in recent days that the Russians might “try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel” this week.

Wednesday is a national holiday in Ukraine commemorating the country’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

(PA Graphics)

It also marks the six-month point in the war against Russia.