Death toll in Ukraine train station bombing reaches 59, including 7 children

Ukrainian officials put the death toll of a missile strike in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk at 59 on Thursday, including seven children. 

“Two more children have died after being hit by a [Russian] missile at the railway station in #Kramatorsk. The total number of victims reached 59, including 7 children. A bloody children’s toy will be sent by @NPU_GOV_UA to the @UN as proof of this barbaric crime,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry tweeted.

Last week, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of conducting a rocket attack against the train station in Kramatorsk that was being used to assist civilian evacuations.

The death toll climbed steadily during the day and the attack was immediately condemned by the international community.

Photos and video circulated on social media showing bodies lying on the ground and personal belongings left all over the area. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said it was a “deliberate slaughter.”

The development comes as the Ukrainian Parliament announced on Thursday that it had adopted a declaration that recognized actions committed by Russia’s military as “acts of genocide,”

Among the acts recognized as genocide by Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, are: “mass atrocities in the temporary occupied terrorities,” “systematic instances of willful killing of civilians,” “forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to the russian terrority,” “impositions of life conditions causing grave suffering” and “widespread instances of physical and mental harm to the population of Ukraine.”