Workers remove the remains of a rocket after the strike. Kareem Khadder/CNN
Editor’s Note: This post contains descriptions that may be disturbing.
Cleaners have arrived at the Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine, where dozens of Ukrainians were killed by a Russian missile attack on Friday as they waited to flee fighting.
CNN saw workers wearing plastic gloves collect scattered human remains. Others searched papers and documents scattered about the station. Plastic bags filled with groceries lay on the ground alongside tattered hats, gloves and shoes.
Multiple impact points were visible, including what appeared to be a direct hit on a car. There was pools of blood and a dead dog lying next to the tracks, partially covered with white foil.
At least 50 people, including five children, were killed in the attack, Ukrainian officials said Friday, and dozens more were taken to local hospitals.
The remains of the rocket were picked up and transported by specialists.
A pile of abandoned luggage lay unattended on the station concourse. Meanwhile, the streets of Kramatorsk – a city of more than 150,000 people – appeared deserted on Sunday.
Left luggage in the station concourse. Kareem Khadder/CNN
Dozens of people were waiting at the city’s bus station to leave the city. Buses go north to Sloviansk, where trains still run.
One volunteer, Nikolai, said he had been helping with evacuations since the war began. “I was glad when I heard that the Russians were leaving the Kyiv area, but then I saw that they were coming to Donbass. I’m very worried,” he said.
Residents of Sloviansk have left the city in recent days after local officials warned of a Russian offensive approaching from Izium.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the strike in Kramatorsk a war crime in a statement on Friday and said it was being thoroughly investigated.
“This is another war crime by Russia for which all those involved will be held accountable,” he said, adding that Russian state propaganda had tried to blame Ukrainian forces for the attack.
“We expect a determined, global response to this war crime,” said Zelenskyy. “Like the Bucha massacres and many other Russian war crimes, the rocket attack on Kramatorsk must be one of the indictments before the tribunal, and it is bound to happen.”
Some context: Russia’s military and senior officials have flatly denied attacks on civilians, including claims – without evidence – that the massacre of civilians in Bucha was staged. The killing of civilians during the Russian occupation of the city is well documented.