At least 22 people were killed and dozens wounded in a Russian rocket attack on a train station in Ukraine on Wednesday as the country marked the anniversary of its independence from Soviet rule.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, confirmed the attack in which rockets struck a passenger train, after previously warning that Russia might be planning something "particularly cruel" for Independence Day.
The strikes took place in Chaplyne, a town of about 3,500 people in the Dnipropetrovsk region, about 90 miles west of Donetsk.
Four train carriages were reportedly on fire following the attack.
In a video address to the United Nations Security Council, Mr Zelensky said: "Chaplyne is our pain today. As of this moment there are 22 dead."
"We will without any doubt evict the invaders from our land. No trace of this evil will remain in our free Ukraine," he added.
The president's office also said an 11-year-old child was killed by rocket fire in another part of the region.
Ukraine had been bracing for especially heavy attacks to coincide with the national holiday commemorating its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
It was also marking the six-month point since Vladimir Putin's troops launched their full-scale invasion on Feb 24.
Authorities in Kyiv had banned large gatherings for fear of missile strikes. Residents of the capital, which has largely avoided Russian attacks in recent months, woke up on Wednesday to air raid sirens but no immediate strikes followed.
Russian bombardments were reported in Ukraine's east, west and central areas.
It comes as Russian police yesterday arrested one of the last opposition leaders not behind bars and charged him with discrediting the army.
Yevgeny Roizman, a high-profile critic of the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, faces up to five years in prison under laws designed to stamp out dissent.
In a video of Mr Roizman being led away by armed police, a reporter asks why he has been arrested.
"For one phrase," Mr Roizman replies. "The invasion of Ukraine."
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