Strike on Ukraine rail station ‘crime against humanity’: France

PARIS, April 8, 2022 (AFP) – A strike blamed by Ukraine on Russia against a railway station in the east of the country that left at least 50 people dead can be classified as a crime against humanity, France said on Friday.

“They hit a station where there are refugees, civilians and so this can be seen as a crime against humanity,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France 5 television, calling for experts to head to the scene in Kramatorsk to gather evidence so the perpetrators can be held to account.

“These crimes cannot remain unpunished. Experts must go there quickly and document urgently to provide proof of crimes against humanity,” he said.

He said such crimes against humanity “of course” needed to be handled by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).

Le Drian denounced the “total cynicism” of Russia in the conflict, warning that the “war will last so long as the objectives set out by President (Vladimir) Putin are not reached”.

He said Putin’s immediate aim was to mark the May 9 victory day in World War II “with some trophies” and was clearly targeting taking the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Fifty people were killed, including five children in the rocket attack, said the regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Russia’s defence ministry said suggestions it had carried out the attack were “absolutely untrue”

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