Anniversary of Kramatorsk station missile strike — consequences

 

Three years ago, on April 8, 2022, the Russian invaders struck the railway station in Kramatorsk with the Tochka-U missile. At the time, the station was the central evacuation hub in the Donetsk Region.  

Read about the consequences of the Russian strike on the railway station in Kramatorsk in the article by Novyny.LIVE.

Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk station — how it happened

On the morning of April 8, 2022, Russian invaders launched the missile strike on Kramatorsk station. The Kramatorsk railway station was struck by the 9M79K-1 Tochka-U missile with 9H24 cluster munitions.

After the launch of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the Kramatorsk railway station became the central transfer point for the evacuation of IDPs from the war zone.

At that time, the station became the central evacuation hub in the Donetsk Region. Thousands of people were waiting to leave for safer regions, assisted by volunteers, employees of the Regional Military Administration, police, and rescuers. At the time of the strike, more than 4,000 people were at the station.

Missile strike on Kramatorsk railway station — consequences and death toll

At the time of the missile strike, thousands of people were at the station waiting to be evacuated due to the threat of renewed fighting in the city as a result of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the SSU, as a result of the strike, 61 people were killed and 121 others were injured.

According to Human Rights Watch, the number of casualties is at least 58 (the difference may be due to difficulties in identifying fragmented remains). 38 people died immediately, the rest later in the hospital. 7 children were among the dead. The missile that killed them bore the inscription "For children".

Oleksandr Kamyshin, who was then the chairman of the board of Ukrzaliznytsia, stated that it was the targeted strike against the railway's passenger infrastructure and the residents of Kramatorsk. The SSU opened the criminal proceedings under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Violation of the laws and customs of war".

Official Russian sources blamed the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the attack, although the Russian news outlet RIA Novosti published news of the attack five minutes before it took place. At the same time as the attack, the Ministry of Defence of Russia stated that it had struck at the concentrations of Ukrainian military, and the night before, the same channels warned residents against evacuating the city by railway. After the publication of photos of dead civilians, including children, the message was deleted.

As a reminder, on March 31, the third anniversary of the liberation of Bucha, Kyiv Region, from Russian invaders, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, together with his wife, First Lady Olena Zelenska, and parliamentary representatives from Europe, paid tribute to the victims of Bucha.

And earlier, on March 28, it was the anniversary of the liberation of Irpin, Bucha District, Kyiv Region, from Russian invaders.