Kramatorsk Station Strike Kills 61 Civilians

April 9, 2022November 21, 2025

On the morning of April 8, the Kramatorsk station strike became one of the deadliest terrorist acts against civilians during Russia’s full-scale invasion. Mostly these were women and children waiting for an evacuation train — residents of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv regions who were trying to leave occupied territories for western regions of Ukraine.

After the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the station became a large transfer point for evacuating refugees from areas of hostilities.

A day before the tragedy, on April 7, Russian occupiers struck an overpass near Barvinkove. This was the only railway route by which one could leave Kramatorsk, Lyman, and Slovyansk. But already at night, railway workers repaired the track, and trains could continue moving. And that night, three trains left Kramatorsk station, evacuating approximately 8 thousand people.

People who couldn’t leave were placed overnight in schools. On the morning of April 8, they were already at the station waiting for the next trains — in total, approximately 4 thousand people.

The Attack

At 10:28 AM, the missile exploded at a height of approximately 2 kilometers above the ground, scattering cluster elements over the station, railway tracks, and adjacent territory. The Tochka-U missile with cluster munitions contains 50 cluster elements 9N24, each of which carries 1.45 kg of explosives and metal rings. Upon explosion, they break into 316 seven-gram fragments that fly at high speed. These metal fragments eventually ended up in the bodies of men, women, and children who were waiting at the station. They tore off their limbs and caused many fatal wounds.

As a result of this terrorist act, according to the SBU, 61 civilians died. According to Human Rights Watch, “at least 58” died. Thirty-eight people died immediately, the rest later in hospitals. Among the killed were 9 children. More than 120 were wounded — the total number of victims is almost 200 people.

According to local officials, more than 30 doctors are working but they can’t cope with the large number of wounded. Donetsk OVA head Pavlo Kyrylenko stated that as of 4:50 PM, 98 wounded were delivered to hospitals — 16 children, 46 women, and 36 men. Twelve of them couldn’t be saved, and they had already died by that time.
From the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, additional ambulance crews were sent. Vladyslav Haivanenko reported:

Eight ambulances just picked up the wounded from Kramatorsk at the border with Donetsk region and are now taking them to our hospitals. Another 25 ambulances are going to Kramatorsk. We’re delivering both children and adults to various hospitals in the region. We have all the medicines.

As always in such cases, the figures with the number of victims are not final and may change.

Eyewitness Accounts

Here are several quotes from people who were directly at the site of this war crime.

Volunteer Anton Malyusky:

Cluster munitions started falling 20 meters from us. Kramatorsk had already been shelled with cluster munitions, I immediately understood what it was and turned toward the station, trying to get into the buildings. The crowd knocked me down, I ended up under people. When everything quieted down, I got out and saw that those who were on top were wounded and killed, and around there was horror. There were very many wounded and killed, with amputations, cars were burning. Actually, what saved my life was that when we went out, some people on the platform stopped me to ask about evacuation, and second, I was saved by the people who fell on top of me.

Doctor Viktoria Melnyk:

From the awareness of how many people are arriving, I think everyone’s soul became heavy. Our entire corridor was packed with the wounded. Many medics who were in the city at that time and don’t work at our hospital came to help us.

Natalia Stepanenko — a woman who lost her leg as a result of the terrorist act:

When I opened my eyes, I didn’t understand at all what was happening. I myself realized that I’m lying down. Why I’m lying down is unclear, here you don’t understand anything. And people just, some screamed, some moaned, it was so terrible, like in a horror movie.

Russian Propaganda’s Predictable Lies

Russian propagandists, telling about this terrorist act, remained true to their traditions: lie, lie, and lie again. Shortly before the explosion, the propaganda resource “RIA Novosti” posted “news” about a missile strike on Kramatorsk. Later the tweet was deleted, but screenshots remained.

As can be seen, the post was published through TweetDeck — a service designed for publishing delayed posts.

Later, several Russian Telegram channels wrote that this was an attack on “a concentration of Armed Forces”. In other words, Russian propagandists didn’t surprise with anything new — according to their claims, it’s either a “Ukrainian missile” or the killed civilians are “Armed Forces soldiers”.

The Kramatorsk station strike became another war crime in Russia’s campaign of terror against Ukrainian civilians. The deliberate targeting of evacuation routes, the use of cluster munitions against crowds of refugees — these actions showed the world the true nature of the Russian military. Not soldiers, but terrorists who strike those fleeing war. The 61 dead, including 9 children, are not casualties of war. They are victims of deliberate murder.