The death toll from a Russian rocket attack on a train station and the surrounding area as Ukraine celebrated its Independence Day climbed to 25, including at least two children, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday. Russia said it targeted a military train and claimed to have killed more than 200 Ukrainian reservists.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned that Russia might “try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel” this week.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an increase in his country's armed forces of 137,000, or more than 13%. That would bring Russia's overall troop strength to more than 1.15 million.
The decree he signed did not say whether the increase would be accomplished by expanding the draft, recruiting more volunteers, or both.