NEWS
Independence Day attack on Ukraine train station kills at least 22
Russian shelling of the Chaplyne train station in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region killed at least 22 people on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Five of the dead were recovered from a car on the railway track and search and rescue operations are ongoing, Zelensky said in an evening video address.
More than 50 people were injured in the shelling, according to earlier information. It is not possible to independently verify the details.
“Chaplyne is our pain today,” Zelensky said.
The attack came on the same day Ukraine marked 31 years of independence and the six-month mark since Russia began its invasion.
“It’s almost night, our main day, Independence Day of Ukraine, is coming to an end. But our independence does not end and will never end,” he said.
Train stations and rail infrastructure have been repeatedly hit during the war. In April, at least 57 died in an attack on the Kramatorsk station in the eastern Donbass region.
Russia attacked neighbouring Ukraine on Feb. 24 but after failing to make advances on the capital Kiev, Moscow pulled back to concentrate on taking the separatist-dominated areas in the east and the south of the country.
The war is not leaving any part of Ukraine untouched. Elsewhere in Dnipropetrovsk, an 11-year-old child was killed by Russian shelling on Wednesday, according to local officials.
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On the day Ukrainians celebrate breaking free of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukrainian authorities reported attacks in several locations across the country, including the Khmelnytskyi region in the west and Zhytomyr region in the north.
While air raid sirens wailed throughout the day in Ukraine, leaders around the world demanded Russia halt the war and reiterated calls for a monitoring mission to be allowed to access a major nuclear plant.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said he had little hope for an early end to the war.
“Despite progress on the humanitarian front, fighting in Ukraine shows no signs of ending – with new potential areas of dangerous escalation appearing,” he told the UN Security Council in New York.
“Today marks a sad and tragic milestone,” he said. “Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured, including hundreds of children.”
“The world has seen grave violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed with little to no accountability,” he said.
He also warned of the potential for catastrophe at the embattled Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and urged an expert mission to the site, led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhya plant, the largest nuclear site in Europe, since March, but attacks near the facility have escalated in recent weeks.
Several others echoed these concerns at the UN meeting.
“The past months we have seen an emerging risk of nuclear calamity in Europe.
“It is deplorable that we even need to say that a nuclear power plant should never be used as a military base,” the European Union’s UN ambassador Silvio Gonzato said.
Gonzato called on Moscow to allow an international team of experts onto the site.
An IAEA mission to check on the sprawling plant’s critical safety and control systems is supported in principle by all sides but it has not yet received the final approval from the warring parties amid disagreement over its details, including the route the experts would take.
Zelensky proposed that Russia transfer control of the Zaporizhzhya plant to the IAEA, in his address to the UN Security Council via video link.
Russia must unconditionally cease its “nuclear blackmail” and completely withdraw from the plant in southern Ukraine, he added, as he also stressed the importance of fighting off Russia’s invasion in a global context.
If Russia is not stopped now, Zelensky said, “Russian killers will probably end up in other countries – in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America.”
He added: “Russia must be held accountable for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.”
In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden announced it would provide 2.98 billion dollars of weapons and equipment.
The U.S. has now committed more than 13.5 billion billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Biden took office.
Washington’s representative at the UN meanwhile expressed the U.S. determination to maintain Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“Let’s be clear: the international community will never recognize Russia’s attempts to change Ukraine’s borders by force,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council.
Peter Obi has condemned the reported killing of some Nigerians abducted in Borgu, Niger State, saying the country must never normalise the killing of its citizens.
Obi made this known in a statement released via X on Wednesday, where he described the reports emerging from Borgu as increasingly difficult to comprehend and deeply painful.
He recalled that on August 27, he had expressed his anguish over the reported abduction of about 600 Nigerians, including women, children and elderly people, alongside the killing of others.
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According to him, his anguish has deepened following continuing reports of the gruesome killing of some of those abducted, while many others remain unaccounted for.
Obi also referred to another disturbing incident in which a bandit group reportedly beheaded a Nigerian and sent his severed head to a community leader over a ₦50 million levy.
“If the reported killing was intended to increase pressure on the community and extract more money for those still being held, then we must recognise the terrible reality before us: human life is being deliberately turned into a bargaining instrument,” he said.
The former Anambra State governor said one person being killed to terrorise an entire community while others are kept alive as hostages for more ransom amounts to the systematic devaluation of human life.
“These are not statistics. They are Nigerians. They are mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters and elderly people,” Obi said.
He questioned how long the country would continue to accept the kidnapping of hundreds of citizens, killings, criminal levies, displacement and ransom payments as unavoidable features of Nigerian life.
Obi said insecurity also affects families, farms, businesses, education and public confidence in government.
He called for intelligence-led operations, stronger community security, rapid response, better coordination and equipment for security forces, effective border protection and sustained action against criminal networks.
“The primary responsibility of government is the security and welfare of its citizens,” he said.
“While politicians prepare for elections, Nigerians are asking for something more fundamental: the right to live.”
Obi urged the government to match prayers with action, insisting that no criminal group should determine who lives or dies anywhere in Nigeria.
“Every Nigerian life matters. Every victim deserves justice. Every community deserves protection. Nigeria must restore security, justice, and the dignity of human life,” he added
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for Nigeria to become more affordable, saying families across the country are being stretched by the rising cost of basic necessities.
Atiku made the call on Wednesday after receiving former First Lady Aisha Buhari, whose visit he described as warm and deeply appreciated.
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According to Atiku, the visit was also a reminder of the urgent responsibility before those seeking a better Nigeria: to put the welfare, dignity and future of Nigerians first.
“Across our country, families are being stretched by the rising cost of food, transport, education, healthcare and other basic necessities,” Atiku said.
He said Nigerians deserve an economy that rewards hard work, restores opportunity and allows every family to live with dignity and hope.
“That is the Nigeria we must build together, a country that works for its people again,” he said.
Atiku added “We must ease the burden, restore hope and Make Nigeria Affordable Again.”
Former Anambra State Governor and NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has said Nigerian youths should not have to leave the country before their talents are recognised or their dreams become achievable.
Obi stated this in a statement released on Wednesday as he concluded a four-day working visit to the United States.
According to him, the visit provided an opportunity to engage with prominent personalities and discuss issues concerning Nigeria, the United States and the future of Nigeria’s youthful population.
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Obi said one of the most fulfilling parts of the visit was meeting young Nigerian professionals in the US, including doctors, lawyers, engineers, technology professionals, entrepreneurs, educators and business leaders.
He said many of them were excelling in their respective fields while remaining committed to the development of Nigeria.
“My message to them was simple: you are not outsiders to Nigeria’s future; you are an important part of it,” Obi said.
He described the knowledge, experience and innovation of Nigerians in the diaspora as “enormous national assets,” stressing the need to build a country that welcomes their contributions and provides every Nigerian with a meaningful opportunity to participate in national development.
Obi said his vision of a “New Nigeria” was one where “the son or daughter of a nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody,” adding that a person’s background should not determine their destination.
He also called for Nigeria to move from consumption to production, while investing in education, healthcare and human capital, supporting businesses, creating productive jobs and building an economy that gives young Nigerians reasons to believe in their future at home.
“Our young people should not have to leave Nigeria before their talents are recognised or their dreams become possible,” he said.
Obi also disclosed that he engaged with diaspora media, including NoireTV Network and Adeola Talks, during the visit, where he shared his views on building a more productive, secure and prosperous Nigeria.
Describing the visit as fulfilling, Obi said the work of building the country must continue.
“Our challenges are great, but our potential is greater. We have the people, the talent, and the resources to build a country where opportunity is not determined by who you know or where you come from, but by what you can contribute,” he said.
“That is the Nigeria we must build together — a Nigeria that works for everyone.
“A New Nigeria is POssible.”
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