Kramatorsk railway station attack

On 8 April 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a missile strike hit the railway station in Kramatorsk, a city in Donetsk oblast where Ukrainian forces were resisting a Russian offensive. According to Wikipedia's summary of the event, the strike killed 63 civilians, including 9 children, and wounded 150 people, including 34 children.

In the lead-up to the attack, a pro-Russian Telegram channel warned civilians on the night of 7 April not to evacuate from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk by rail. On the morning of 8 April, shortly before the strike, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced it had hit railway stations in Sloviansk, Pokrovsk, and Barvinkove with "high-precision air-based missiles." The Ukrainian government stated that between 1,000 and 4,000 civilians, mainly women and children, were at the Kramatorsk station awaiting evacuation from an area under heavy shelling. Media affiliated with the Donetsk People's Republic reportedly published videos of missiles launching from separatist-controlled Shakhtarsk at 10:24–10:25, and two missiles struck near the station building around 10:30. A World Central Kitchen aid worker who witnessed the attack described hearing "between five and ten explosions." The missiles were initially misidentified as Iskander ballistic missiles; Donetsk oblast governor Pavlo Kyrylenko later said they were Tochka-U missiles armed with cluster munitions. Remnants of one missile bore the Russian words "ЗА ДЕТЕЙ" ("for the children") and a serial number that investigators said could help trace its origin.

International officials condemned the strike. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said it exemplified failures to adhere to principles of distinction and precaution under international humanitarian law. Council of Europe Commissioner Dunja Mijatović called it a demonstration of disregard for civilian life. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Russia as "an evil with no limits." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was visiting Ukraine that day, called the attack "despicable." French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian termed it a "crime against humanity," and British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace called it a war crime. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called it "completely unacceptable." Ukraine's Security Service opened criminal proceedings under Article 438 of the Criminal Code.

Russian state media initially claimed a successful strike on a military transport target; after it became clear civilians had been killed, the Russian Ministry of Defence denied responsibility, calling the event a Ukrainian hoax and claiming Ukrainian forces had launched the missiles from Dobropillia. Analysts and investigators, including Amnesty International, the Conflict Intelligence Team, the Belarusian Hajun project, and the Institute for the Study of War, presented evidence that Russian forces possessed and had previously used Tochka-U missiles in Ukraine. Bellingcat stated on 14 April that available open-source evidence was insufficient to establish the direction from which the missile was fired, while PolitiFact concluded on 18 April that there was no credible evidence Ukraine was behind the attack.