KYIV, Ukraine, April  9, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - British Prime Minister Boris 
Johnson paid an unannounced visit to Kyiv Saturday in a "show of solidarity" 
with Ukraine a day after a missile strike killed dozens at a railway station in 
the country's east.

Six weeks into Russia's invasion, Moscow has shifted its focus to eastern 
and southern Ukraine after stiff resistance ended plans to swiftly capture the 
capital.

  Western leaders mobilised to back President Volodymyr Zelensky as details 
emerged of the devastating attack on Kramatorsk's station with civilians 
seeking to flee a feared Russian offensive.

Johnson tweeted that Britain was "setting out a new package of financial 
and military aid which is a testament of our commitment to his country's 
struggle against Russia's barbaric campaign".

 As part of the solidarity campaign, a global pledging event for Ukrainian 
refugees raised 10.1 billion euros ($11 billion), European Commission chief 
Ursula von der Leyen said in Warsaw.

 With thousands killed in fighting and more than 11 million fleeing their 
homes or the country, Zelensky said the Kramatorsk strike marked a fresh 
atrocity that required Western action.

 "This is another Russian war crime for which everyone involved will be held 
accountable," he said in a video message, calling for "a firm global response 
to this war crime".

 Zelensky later said he was "still ready" to continue talks with Russia to 
resolve the conflict, after talks with visiting Austrian Chancellor Karl 
Nehammer.

 US President Joe Biden accused Russia of being behind a "horrific atrocity" 
in Kramatorsk, the de facto capital of the Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk region, 
and France condemned the strike as a "crime against humanity".

  Moscow denied responsibility for the rocket attack on Friday morning, which 
killed 52 people including five children and injured a further 109 victims, 
according to the latest official count.

 The Ukrainian president said the bombing had been reported in Russia before 
the missiles had even landed and called for more weaponry to counter Moscow's 
aggression.

 "I am sure that the victory of Ukraine is just a matter of time, and I will 
do everything to reduce this time," he added.
       
       - 'For our children' -
       
 Minibuses assembled at a church in Kramatorsk to collect shaken evacuees on 
Saturday. Almost 80 people, most of them elderly, took shelter overnight in the 
building, not far from the targeted station.

 "There were around 300 to 400 people who rushed here after the strike," 
Yevgeny, a member of the Protestant church, told AFP.

 "They were traumatised. Half of them ran to shelter in the cellar, others 
wanted to leave as soon as possible. Some were evacuated by bus in the 
afternoon (on Friday)."

 The station in Kramatorsk was being used as the main evacuation hub for 
refugees from the parts of the eastern Donbas region still under Ukrainian 
control.

 AFP reporters at the station saw the remains of the missile tagged in white 
paint with the words "for our children" in Russian. The expression is 
frequently used by pro-Russian separatists in reference to their losses since 
the start of the first Donbas war in 2014.

 The governor of Donetsk claimed a missile with cluster munitions was used 
in the attack, according to remarks published by the Interfax news agency.

 The strike came as von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell 
were in Kyiv for talks with Zelensky and to visit the scene of civilian 
killings in Bucha.

 Russia faces "decay" because of ever tougher sanctions and Ukraine had a 
"European future", von der Leyen said at a news conference with Zelensky.

"My instinct says: If this is not a war crime, what is a war crime?" she 
said of the Bucha killings, calling for a thorough investigation.

  Russian troops appear to be seeking to create a long-sought land link 
between occupied Crimea and the Moscow-backed separatist territories of Donetsk 
and Lugansk in the Donbas region.

 "It's clear that the war will be decided in the battle of Donbas," Borrell 
said on Saturday as he and von der Leyen left Ukraine. 

 Civilians have been urged to flee the heavy shelling there that has laid 
waste to towns and complicated evacuation efforts.

 The defence ministry in Moscow said Saturday that Russian forces had 
destroyed an ammunition depot in the Dnipro region, and struck 85 Ukrainian 
military targets in the previous 24 hours.

 "There is no secret -- the battle for Donbas will be decisive. What we have 
already experienced -- all this horror -- it can multiply," warned Lugansk 
regional governor Sergiy Gaiday.

 In the south, the Black Sea port city of Odessa braced for rocket attacks, 
imposing a weekend curfew.

  Residents and Ukrainian officials returning after a Russian withdrawal from 
an area near Kyiv, meanwhile, were taking stock of the scale of the devastation.

 Bucha -- where authorities say hundreds were killed, some with their hands 
bound -- has become a byword for the brutality allegedly inflicted under 
Russian occupation.

 But Zelesky warned worse was being uncovered.

 "They have started sorting through the ruins in Borodianka," northwest of 
Kyiv, he said. "It is much more horrific there. There are even more victims of 
Russian occupiers."
       
       - Sanctions bite -
           
 Moscow has denied targeting civilians, but growing evidence of atrocities 
has galvanised Ukraine's allies in the EU, which has approved an embargo on 
Russian coal and the closure of its ports to Russian vessels.

 The bloc has frozen 30 billion euros in assets from Russian and Belarusian 
individuals and companies, it said Friday.

 It also blacklisted Putin's two adult daughters and more than 200 others as 
part of its latest sanctions package, according to an official list.

The United States and Britain had already sanctioned the Russian leader's 
daughters.

 Borrell has pledged the EU would supply 7.5 million euros to train 
Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate war crimes allegedly committed by Russia. 

He was to meet with the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on 
Sunday.

 Ukraine has welcomed new pressure on Moscow, but it continues to push for 
harsher sanctions and more heavy weaponry.

"Either you help us now -- and I'm speaking about days, not weeks -- or 
your help will come too late and many people will die, many civilians will lose 
their homes, many villages will be destroyed," foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba 
said after meeting NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

 Britain said Friday it was sending Ukraine more "high-grade military 
equipment" including Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles and 800 anti-tank 
missiles, while Slovakia said it had given Ukraine an S-300 air defence system.

Western companies have joined the effort to isolate Russia, with US video 
hosting service YouTube blocking the channel of the Russian lower house of 
parliament. Russian officials warned of reprisals.

 As sanctions bite, credit rating agency S and P Global Ratings downgraded 
Russia's foreign currency payments rating to "selective default" after Moscow 
paid a dollar-denominated debt in rubles this week.