22 killed in Independence Day attack in Ukraine, Zelenskyy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched a rocket attack on a Ukrainian train station on Wednesday, the embattled country's Independence Day, killing 22 people. Zelenskyy had warned for days that Moscow might attempt "something particularly cruel" this week. The lethal attack took place in Chaplyne, a town of about 3,500 people in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian news agencies quoted Zelenskyy as telling the U.N. Security Council via video. The president's office also reported that an 11-year-old child was killed by rocket fire earlier in the day in the settlement. "Chaplyne is our pain today," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. At one point, Zelenskyy put the number of wounded at about 50. The deputy head of Zelenskyy's office later said 22 people were wounded in the attack, which hit five passenger rail cars.

Ukraine had been bracing for especially heavy attacks around the national holiday that commemorates Ukraine's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Wednesday also marked the six-month point in the war.

Days ahead of Independence Day, Kyiv authorities banned large gatherings in the capital through Thursday for fear of missile strikes.