RUSSIA and Ukraine continued to blame each other for a missile strike that killed scores at a railway station, as the leader of the Russia-backed Donetsk People’s Republic said it was preparing to “intensify” its offensive in eastern Ukraine.

The row took place as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that “tens of thousands” had so far been killed in the besieged city of Mariupol and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there would be no pause in hostilities for or during peace talks.

Friday’s strike on the city of Kramatorsk saw a missile, thought to be a Tochka-U, fired on men, women and children as they prepared to evacuate.