Burning cars and bloody corpses: Photos show the horrific aftermath of the Russian rocket attack at a Ukraine railway station packed with fleeing civilians.

At least 52 people were killed when Russian rockets hit the railway station packed with Ukrainians fleeing the war.

A 1,000 ivilians went to Kramatorsk station to escape the anticipated Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine. 

 

 

A trail of blood leads to the railway station’s booking hall.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has called this attack a “war crime,” and joined a number of officials in telling civilians to evacuate the eastern Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

A Russian rocket that struck a Ukrainian train station and killed dozens of people had ‘For the children’ written on its side.

A Russian rocket that struck a train station and killed dozens in eastern Ukraine on Friday had a Russian phrase meaning “For the children” written on its side, Ukrainian officials said.

At least 52 people were killed, and over 100 were injured after two Russian rockets hit the train station in Kramatorsk, which is in the Donetsk oblast.

The phrase — seen scrawled in white on the side of a purported Russian rocket in photos and video from the scene of the attack — translates as a message that the missile was sent in vengeance for children, not that it was intended to be used on children, explainedInsider’s Jake Epstein.

Russian propaganda has accused Ukrainian troops of killing children even as Russian forces fire on civilian targets.

 

A child’s stuffed horse with bloodstains on it lies on a platform after Russian shelling at the railway station in Kramatorsk.

A child’s toy horse was abandoned in the blast and left blood-soaked on the ground, a sad testament to the carnage left by Russian rockets. 

At least five children were killed in the attack, according to a post from Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region.

Since the invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, at least 169 children have been killed, according to the UN. However, the actual figure is believed to be much higher.

Outside the station burning cars with bodies around it shows the violence of the attack.

Thousands of civilians – older people, women, and children – went to the Kramatorsk railway station to start a journey to safety, but it turned into a killing zone.

“Lacking the strength and courage to stand up to us on the battlefield, they are cynically destroying the civilian population,” said President Zelenskyy in an Instagram post, referring to Russian forces. “This is an evil that has no limits. And if it is not punished, it will never stop.”

A man holds aloft a blood-stained animal carrier after the rockets struck the railway station.

President Zelenskyy said that there were “thousands” of people at the station hoping to flee Ukraine, and whole families — including pets — were caught in the blast.

Scores had flocked to the train station on Friday to evacuate from the eastern Donbas region, as Western intelligence and NATO warned Russian troops are repositioning away from the northern Kyiv region and will focus their efforts on the east. 

Photos and videos circulating on social media from Ukrainian officials and journalists showed a blood-stained sidewalk, strewn with luggage, strollers, and other belongings.

Bodies lay covered after the Russian shelling at the railway station in Kramatorsk.

Photos and videos circulating on social media from Ukrainian officials and journalists showed a blood-stained sidewalk, strewn with luggage, strollers, and other belongings.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted after the strike: “This was a deliberate slaughter. We will bring each war criminal to justice.”