A Russian cluster munition strike, which was carried out against a crowded train station in Ukraine’s eastern city Kramatorsk last April, was “in violation of the laws of war, and was an apparent war crime,” according to a new report by Human Rights Watch and SITU Research.
Over 50 people, including five children, died in the strike on the Kramatorsk railway station on April 8, which at the time was being used to shelter civilians fleeing the fighting, according to Ukrainian officials.
According to the report, several hundred civilians were waiting at the station when “a ballistic missile equipped with a cluster munition warhead exploded and released dozens of bomblets, or submunitions.”
Approximately 15,800 lethal metal fragments were dispersed at the station and the surrounding area, which then struck the ground and detonated, “killing and wounding scores of people,” the report found.
First responders, station volunteers and ordinary citizens described trying to stop serious bleeding with “diapers” as ambulances rushed to the scene.
In the days before the strike, “tens of thousands” of people from the Eastern Donbas traveled through the station “as part of an evacuation encouraged and facilitated by local authorities,” according to the report.
The United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) prohibits cluster munitions due to their "humanitarian impact on civilians," but neither Russia or Ukraine are state parties to this treaty.
“The Russian commanders responsible for ordering the attack, which used an inherently indiscriminate weapon in a well-known major evacuation hub, should be investigated and held accountable,” the report continued.
The Russian Ministry of Defense routinely denies attacking civilians, despite ample evidence collected by international media and watchdog groups.
