Russians Target Civilians In Missile Attack
It’s only going to get worse.
A missile attack on a train station in Eastern Ukraine killed 50 people and injured 100 more on Friday 8th April 2022. The train station in Kramatorsk was full of civilians – mostly women, children, and the elderly – who were waiting to be evacuated after Ukrainian authorities warned of a new wave of Russian attacks. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dymtro Kuleba, has claimed that the attack on civilians was deliberate. Russia has denied any involvement.
Thousands of people had gathered at the train station to try to escape Eastern Ukraine. Having failed to take over the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Russian forces have started to regroup in the East where Moscow-backed separatists already have some control over territory.
According to the head of the state railway company, Oleksandr Kamyshyn, two missiles struck the area on Friday morning, damaging vital infrastructure and harming many civilians.
"Russians knew that the train station in Kramatorsk was full of civilians waiting to be evacuated. Yet they [struck] it with a ballistic missile.. [..]," tweeted Kuleba after the strike. "This was a deliberate slaughter. We will bring each war criminal to justice.”
International outrage at civilian attacks
The alleged Russian attack has sparked international outrage. Both the United Nations and Amnesty International have condemned what appear to be ‘indiscriminate’ attacks on wide areas in or near populated areas in Ukraine since the conflict began in February.
Maternity Hospital Missile Attack
In early March, the Russian Air Force bombed a maternity hospital in Mariupol, killing at least four and injuring at least sixteen. Russian forces also bombed a theatre in Mariupol where hundreds of people had been sheltering. Airstrikes also killed 47 civillians in Chernihiv, and Ukranian officials claim that the bodies of hundreds of civilians were found in the areas outside of Kyiv following Russia’s withdrawal from the area.
The top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the conflict.
Russia denies involvement in the most recent missile attacks in Kramatorsk. The defence ministry in Moscow claims that they do not use the type of Tochka-U missile used in the attack.
However, analysts have pointed to images and videos on social media which appear to show the Russian military using the Toshka-U. Ukranian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said the missile strike in Kramatorsk “must be one of the charges at the tribunal” at the ICC.
More civilian strife to come
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights claims that 902 civilians have been killed and another 1,459 have been wounded so far in the conflict. But they say this is likely an underestimate and that the actual causality count is much higher.
On Monday, U.S. officials warned that Russia’s military appears to be preparing for a major offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. The Kremlin has claimed its goal is to “liberate” the Donbas which is Ukraine’s mostly Russian-speaking industrial centre. The officials claim that it could take Russia a month to resupply and regroup before what could become a decisive battle for control over the East.
Zelensky has said that Ukraine is also preparing for battle. Ukrainian forces may be at a disadvantage in the Eastern part area of Ukraine. This region is flatter and more open, and Ukraine may find it more difficult to launch ambush attacks as they did in Kyiv.
But Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that Ukraine has already defended against several Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Zelensky has also called for more military aid in the form of missile defense systems.
Nonetheless, as the conflict continues into its third month, the new offensive on the east could produce even more civilian casualties. A residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was struck by incoming fire on Monday afternoon. Associated Press journalists on the ground claim that at least five people were killed, including a child. Oleh Synyehubov, the regional governor of Kharkiv, said earlier on Monday that Russian shelling had killed 11 people over the last 24 hours.
As the battle for the East culminates, more civilian causalities are likely. Ukrainian authorities continue to urge people living in the Donbas to evacuate. “Later, people will come under fire,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, “and we won’t be able to do anything to help them.”
