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Kramatorsk railway station attack

Coordinates: 48°43′34″N 37°32′34″E / 48.72611°N 37.54278°E / 48.72611; 37.54278
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Not to be confused with February 2015 Kramatorsk rocket attack (10 February 2015) or June 2023 Kramatorsk missile strike.

Kramatorsk railway station attack
Part of Eastern Ukraine campaign
The aftermath of the attack
TypeMissile strike
Location
Kramatorsk, Ukraine

48°43′34″N 37°32′34″E / 48.72611°N 37.54278°E / 48.72611; 37.54278
Date8 April 2022
ca. 10:30 (UTC+3)
Executed by Russian Armed Forces
Casualties63 (including 9 children)[1] killed
150+[1] injured
Kramatorsk railway station attack is located in Ukraine
Kramatorsk railway station attack
Location within Ukraine

On 8 April 2022, a Russian[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] missile strike hit the railway station of the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The strike killed 63 civilians (including 9 children) and wounded 150 (including 34 children).[1]

Background

Main article: Russian invasion of Ukraine

During the Russian invasion, which began on 24 February, Russian forces entered Ukraine with the goal of assisting the separatist People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in seizing the portions of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts that were still controlled by the Ukrainian government. The soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stationed in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk played a key role in resisting the Russian offensive.[9]

On the night of 7 April, pro-Russian Telegram channel ZАПИСКИ VЕТЕРАНА ("Veteran's Notes") warned civilians not to evacuate from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk on railways.[10][11] At around 10:10 the next morning, shortly before the bombing of the railway station in Kramatorsk, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that they had hit railway stations in Sloviansk, Pokrovsk, and Barvinkove with "high-precision air-based missiles".[12][13][14]

Attack

Debris from one of the missiles, with the railway station visible in the background. The top half of the inscription ЗА ДЕТЕЙ ("[in revenge] for the children") is visible.

According to the Ukrainian government, between 1000 and 4000 civilians, mainly women and children, were present at the station awaiting evacuation from the region, which was being subjected to heavy Russian shelling.[15][16]

At 10:24 and 10:25, media affiliated with the People's Republic of Donetsk published videos showing a pair of missiles being launched from Shakhtarsk, a city under separatist control.[17] At approximately 10:30, two missiles hit near the railway station building in Kramatorsk,[18] and the first reports were published in Ukrainian media at around 10:45.[17]

A World Central Kitchen aid worker who witnessed the attack in Kramatorsk said that he had heard "between five and ten explosions".[15] Reports described the scene as extremely bloody, with several people losing limbs from the explosions. Victims' bodies were strewn around amid abandoned luggage.[9][19]

The missiles were initially misidentified as Iskander ballistic missiles.[20] Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Donetsk oblast, later specified that they had rather been Tochka-U missiles armed with cluster munitions.[15]

The remnants of one of the missiles had the Russian words ЗА ДЕТЕЙ (za detey), meaning "[in revenge] for the children", painted in white on its outside.[21] It also bore serial number Ш91579, which investigators said could potentially help trace it back to its original arsenal.[22][23]

Responses

Emergency services at the scene of the incident.

Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the attack "is emblematic of the failure to adhere to the principle of distinction, the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks and the principle of precaution enshrined in international humanitarian law".[24]

Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the "strike on a densely populated urban area of Ukraine is yet another demonstration of the blatant disregard for civilian life, which has by now sadly become a steady feature of this military aggression".[25]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Russia as "an evil with no limits".[26]

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who visited Ukraine on the day of the attack, condemned the attack as "despicable".[27] French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the attack as a "crime against humanity", saying that it could not remain unpunished,[28] while British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace condemned it as a war crime.[29]

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres described the missile strike as "completely unacceptable".[30]

Oleksandr Kamyshin, chairman of Ukrainian Railways, described the event as being a "targeted blow to the passenger infrastructure of the railway and the residents of the city of Kramatorsk".[31] The Security Service of Ukraine opened criminal proceedings under Article 438 of the Criminal Code.[32]

Royal United Services Institute analyst Justin Bronk said that Russia aimed to damage Ukrainian transport infrastructure to make it difficult for Ukrainian forces to move around Donbas. He also suggested that Russia opted for the Tochka-U missile type due to its use by the Ukrainian army, in order to "muddy the waters".[29] The Pentagon highlighted Russian responsibility for the attack, as well as the strategic importance of the railway junction.[33][34]

Response by Russia and its supporters

Initially, Russian state media and pro-Russian telegram channels[35][36] claimed successful Russian airstrikes on a military transport target in Kramatorsk. After it became clear that the missiles had killed civilians, however, earlier reports were redacted, the Russian government denied responsibility for the attack, and the Russian Ministry of Defence characterized it as a Ukrainian hoax.[35][37] The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that the missiles were launched by Ukrainian forces from the city of Dobropillia, southwest of Kramatorsk.[38][13]

Russian media also said that the serial number of the missile was in the same range as one used by Ukrainian forces. Serial numbers cannot be used to prove which side fired the missile, however, since all Tochka-U's were manufactured at a single site in Russia and distributed from there across the Soviet Union. As a result, there was, for example, a close serial number match between a Tochka-U used by Russia in Syria and one used by Ukraine in Snizhne.[39][40][41] Moreover, both Russia and Ukraine have made extensive use of munitions captured from the other side.[42][43]

A fake video clip with a mock BBC logo, attributing blame to the Ukrainian forces, circulated through pro-Russian telegram channels since 10 April. The video was also aired on Russian state television. The BBC has not produced any such video.[44][45]

Assessment of the Russian response

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that their forces no longer use Tochka-U missiles. However, Amnesty International, the investigative journalists of the Conflict Intelligence Team, and a number of military experts had already reported the use of Tochkas by Russian forces in multiple parts of Ukraine prior to the strike on Kramatorsk.[46] Moreover, investigators from the open-source Belarusian Hajun project had published videos of several Russian trucks with Tochka missiles heading from Belarus to Ukraine with 'V' markings on 5 and 30 March 2022.[47] The Institute for the Study of War assessed that the Russian 8th Combined Arms Army, which is active in the Donbas area, is equipped with Tochka-U missiles.[48] Russian news reports and social media footage showed the 47th Missile Brigade, part of Russia's 8th Combined Arms Army, displaying Tochka-U missiles at public events in 2021, including at the Victory Day parade in Krasnodar.[49]

On 14 April, Bellingcat stated that open source evidence remained insufficient to establish the direction from which the missile had been fired.[23]

On 18 April, PolitiFact assessed the possibility of the incident being a false flag, concluding that "there's no credible evidence that Ukraine was behind the April 8 attack at the Kramatorsk train station."[50]

Documentary

In 2023 Ukrainian filmmaker Aleksandr Kirienko [Wikidata] made a documentary, Save The Grasshopper, about the incident.[51][52]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kramatorsk train station attack.

References

  1. ^ a b c Євген, Вакуленко (8 April 2023). "According to the final data of the Security Service of Ukraine, which were provided in response to the request of journalists of the Free Radio, as a result of the attack on the Kramatorsk train station: 63 people were killed, among them 9 children. 150 citizens were injured, among them 34 children" (Report). Вільне радіо.
  2. ^ Jonathan Beale (10 April 2022). "Ukraine war: Disbelief and horror after Kramatorsk train station attack". BBC. Archived from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Kramatorsk train station massacre sparks international outrage". Le Monde. 10 April 2022. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Ukraine evening briefing: Five developments as Russia strikes railway stations and fuel depots". The Telegraph. 25 April 2022. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022. At least 57 people were killed earlier this month in Russian strikes on a train station used for evacuations in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.
  5. ^ "Russia strikes 5 railway stations in central and western Ukraine, head of Ukraine state railways says". CNN. 25 April 2022. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022. Earlier this month, at least 50 people, including five children, were killed after Russian forces carried out a missile strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk,
  6. ^ "Impossible Choices in the Battle for the Donbas". The Atlantic. 24 April 2022. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022. The risks of evacuation, safer though it may be than staying, were underlined by a Russian strike on a train station in Kramatorsk,
  7. ^ "RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, APRIL 8". Institute for the Study of War. 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022. A Russian Tochka-U missile struck a civilian evacuation point at the Kramatorsk rail station in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 50 and wounding around a hundred evacuees.
  8. ^ "Ukraine: New Light on Russia's Rail Station Attack. Despite Denials, Research Confirms Russian Forces Had Weapons, Opportunity". Human Rights Watch. 21 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  9. ^ a b "'Evil that has no limits': Zelenskiy condemns Kramatorsk station attack". the Guardian. 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  10. ^ Ebaker (8 April 2022). "Russian War Report: Russia makes false claims while blaming Ukraine for Kramatorsk railway station attack". Atlantic Council. Archived from the original on 10 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  11. ^ ""Точка У" разорвалась на вокзале в Краматорске, 52 человека погибли. Что известно о нападении и ракете". BBC News Русская служба (in Russian). 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  12. ^ "Kramatorsk train station massacre sparks international outrage". Le Monde.fr. 10 April 2022. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  13. ^ a b "Ce que l'on sait du bombardement russe de la gare de Kramatorsk, dans l'est de l'Ukraine". L'Obs (in French). 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  14. ^ "Вторжение в Украину. 44‑й день войны". Медиазона (in Russian). Archived from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
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  17. ^ a b "По вокзалу Краматорска ударили ракетой с надписью "За детей". Погибли 50 человек (в том числе пять детей) Больницы не справляются с количеством раненых, заявил мэр Краматорска". Meduza (in Russian). Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
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  20. ^ "About 30 people killed in Russian strike on a packed train station in eastern Ukraine". NPR. 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  21. ^ Isabel Van Brugen (8 April 2022). "Missile That Hit Ukrainian Civilian Station Had 'For Children' On it". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
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  23. ^ a b "Russia's Kramatorsk 'Facts' Versus the Evidence". Bellingcat. 14 April 2022. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
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  25. ^ "Kramatorsk: Those responsible for the terrible loss of civilian life must be held accountable". Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  26. ^ "'Russia, an evil with no limits': Zelenskyy on east Ukraine rocket attack". Hindustan Times. 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  27. ^ "'An abomination': World reacts to deadly Kramatorsk attack". Al Jazeera. 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  28. ^ "Bombardement de Kramatorsk: Jean-Yves Le Drian dénonce un crime contre l'humanité". Europe 1 (in French). 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  29. ^ a b "Strike kills 50 at Ukraine rail station crowded with people". AP NEWS. 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  30. ^ "Missile kills at least 52 at crowded Ukrainian train station". AP NEWS. 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  31. ^ "Россия ударила ракетами по железнодорожному вокзалу Краматорска, 39 погибших, из них 4 – дети (обновлено)". Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  32. ^ "В результате обстрела Краматорска уже известно о 39 погибших, среди которых 4 детей". Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  33. ^ "Pentagon: Russia fired a missile strike at Kramatorsk station". babel.ua. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  34. ^ "Trending news: Pentagon: Russian troops fired "Point-U" missile at Kramatorsk railway station". Hindustan News Hub. 9 April 2022. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  35. ^ a b ""Точка У" разорвалась на вокзале в Краматорске, 52 человека погибли. Что известно о нападении и ракете". BBC News Русская служба (in Russian). 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
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  38. ^ "Death toll in Kramatorsk railway station strike rises to 50, including 5 children". The Hindu. 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  39. ^ Romanyuk, Vika (10 April 2022). "Fake: Serial Number Confirms Kramatorsk Train Station Hit by Ukrainian Tochka U Missile". StopFake. Archived from the original on 15 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  40. ^ "Russia's Kramatorsk 'Facts' Versus the Evidence". Bellingcat. 14 April 2022. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022. At the time of writing, the available open source evidence remains insufficient to reveal all details about the strike, including the direction of origin of the missile.
  41. ^ "Фейк кремлевских СМИ: доказано, что удар по Краматорску нанесен украинской ракетой". The Insider (in Russian). Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  42. ^ "¿Qué sabemos del misil que ha matado a civiles ucranianos junto a la estación de tren de Kramatorsk (Ucrania)? · Maldita.es - Periodismo para que no te la cuelen". Maldita.es — Periodismo para que no te la cuelen (in Spanish). 13 April 2022. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
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  50. ^ Washington, District of Columbia 1800 I. Street NW; Dc 20006. "PolitiFact - No evidence that Ukraine attacked a train station in one of its cities". @politifact. Archived from the original on 19 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  51. ^ Баранник, Віталій (26 October 2023). "Режисер Олександр Кирієнко: "Ми плакали за кадром, коли слухали історії свідків трагедії в Краматорську"". detector.media (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  52. ^ "В Україні знімають документальний фільм про дітей, які постраждали через війну". ukrinform (in Ukrainian). 7 November 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
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