Kiev not to dodge responsibility for Kramatorsk strike: Moscow

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Kiev will not be able to evade responsibility for the attack it launched on Kramatorsk using Tochka-U tactical missiles, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday. 

"We are confident that the Kiev authorities will not be able to evade responsibility," the ministry added. 

Moscow said there was evidence pointing to the guilt of the Ukrainian armed forces, stressing, "it is they who are armed and use the Tochka-U missiles, the fragments of which were found at the site of the tragedy."

The United Kingdom cited this attack upon announcing that it was supplying Starstreak missile systems to Ukraine.

Russia said the "inhumane actions" of the Kiev regimes underlined the validity of the tasks of the Russian forces in Ukraine, in a nod to Moscow's announced objectives of "demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine".

Moscow also used the strike on Kramatorsk to call for the halt of the arms supply to Kiev, which the West has been doing even before the start of the war.

"We call on the international community to give an impartial assessment of the crimes of Ukrainian formations, to stop supplying them with weapons, and to encourage Kiev to abandon unacceptable methods of warfare," the ministry said. 

28 miles from Kramatorsk

Moscow's ministry of defense revealed that the Ukrainian forces fired the missiles at Kramatorsk from Dobropily, a settlement 45 km away from the city.

"According to the updated information, the Kramatorsk railway station was hit by a missile division of the Ukrainian armed forces from the area of Dobropilya settlement, located 45 kilometers south-west," the statement read.

Missile hit or fell down at Kramatorsk train station - Ukrainian side says it was two Russian "Iskander" missiles, but that's definitely a Tochka-U, no? pic.twitter.com/mzjVMT1L5b

— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) April 8, 2022

Russia explained that the goal of the attack was to disrupt mass evacuations from the city in order to use its civilians as human shields against Moscow's forces.

In order to accuse Russia of an alleged missile attack on the Kramatorsk railway station, the ministry indicated, Kiev used photos of Tochka-U launchers from the Allied Resolve 2022 Russia-Belarus joint military exercises, which took place in February.

It is worth noting that the Tochka-U was retired from Russian service a while ago, while Ukraine is the largest operator of the missile system, possessing more than 90 launchers and more than 800 missiles on the eve of the war.

This is not the first time Ukraine commits a crime and tries to blame Russia for its actions, as Russia's Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, had said that, with regards to the shelling of Bucha, Ukraine's authorities were shifting the blame.

A war crime had taken place in Bucha, and the Kiev authorities tried to play it off as one committed by Moscow, though the latter stressed that it was the Ukrainians who were behind it.

Russia's deputy envoy to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said Monday his country would continue pushing for holding a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the latest round of provocations carried out by the Ukrainian armed forces despite the United Kingdom tugging the other end of the rope in a bid to obstruct Moscow.

Russia also recalled the Mariupol maternity hospital incident, among others, saying the photos and video footage from Bucha were a production by Ukraine for the Western media.

Kiev had previously claimed that hospitals in this city had been the target of Russian attacks, but the allegations were proven false.