The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, has reported that the Russians killed more than 12,000 civilians, including 551 children — this is only according to confirmed data. Here are the most deadly Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians since February 24, 2022.
drama theatre in Mariupol. The exact number of victims is not yet known (and most likely will never be established), but according to multiple various sources, it is greater than 300 people.
Journalists from free media and representatives of international organisations are not permitted to enter the city, but satellite images show that the area of mass graves is rapidly growing. The majority of the buildings in Mariupol are in ruins, and thousands of bodies may still be buried beneath the rubble. The destroyed drama theatre on March 16, 2022, became a tragic symbol of the city's destruction.
Women and children were hiding there from Russian missiles and bombs. To protect themselves from the Russians, the locals even made large signs ‘CHILDREN’ around the site, visible even from the air. However, this did not stop the Russian pilots, who dropped a devastating bomb on the theatre, turning it into a mass grave.
Kramatorsk's railway stationkilled 61 people and injured 121. Experts have confirmed that the attack was carried out using a 9M79-1 single-stage solid-fuel missile with a cluster munition, commonly known as ‘Point U’.
Kramatorsk was the largest hub for the evacuation of people from Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. As a result of the Russian invasion, millions of people were forced to flee from the occupiers. For many, the railway became the only means of escape.
It is unspeakably cruel of the Russian Federation to mark a missile ‘for children’ and then target people and children fleeing in Kramatorsk,’ said Melinda Simmons, former British Ambassador to Ukraine (2019-2023).
the Amstor shopping centre in the city of Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast, killing 22 people and injuring almost a hundred others; and at the time of the air raid, it was reported that there could have been more than 1,000 civilians present.
The missile attack on the shopping centre was carried out by an Kh-22 anti-ship missile containing almost a tonne of explosives. There were no military facilities nearby the Amstor. The majority of the victims were unable to be unidentified as their bodies were so severely burned.
Dniprokilled 46 people and injured 80. The horrific tragedy happened on a weekend, a public holiday, when the townspeople were mostly at home. There was not a single military facility nearby.
A Russian missile hit a civilian nine-storey building home to around 1700 residents. People were trapped beneath the rubble of two completely destroyed entrances.
the village of Hrozain the Kharkiv Oblast, killing 59 people. On that day, October 5, local residents gathered in a cafe for the wake of defender Andrii Kozyr.
A missile strike completely destroyed the building. Given the small size of the village's population, one in four residents was killed. The OHCHR also has reasonable grounds to believe that the reception was the intended target of an attack by the Russian armed forces, using a precision weapon, possibly an Iskander missile.
Russia's inhumane actions against the civilian population of Ukraine during the war bear the hallmarks of genocide, although there is currently no official recognition of this crime due to what is deemed “insufficient evidence”.
The attacks on civilians, including children, and the destruction of cultural property are part of a broader intent to attack Ukrainian national identity. The tragic events in Mariupol, Kramatorsk, Dnipro, Chernihiv, and other cities demonstrate Russia’s deliberate targeting of civilians, which has resulted in a tragic number of casualties.
