The Ukrainian military fired a rocket from the Tochka-U system targeting the railway station in the city of Kramatorsk. The city, which still remains under control of the Ukrainian military, is located on the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic.
"The missile attack was conducted targeting the railway station in Kramatorsk, where the local population was being evacuated. The wreckage of the Tochka-U rocket crashed in close proximity to the station,” the headquarters of the territorial defense of the DPR said.
According to preliminary reports, as many as 30 people were killed, many of them are children, about 100 were injured.
The Ukrainian side accused Russia of the shelling immediately. Similar information, blaming Russia for the attack on Kramatorsk, appeared in all Western media in the morning of April 8.
Russia does not use Tochka-U systems complexes — all of them were decommissioned a long time ago.
It is worthy of note that on March 14, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired a Tochka-U rocket on Donetsk. Seventeen people, all civilians, were killed in the attack.
"I am stressing this out again: neither the Russian Federation, nor Donetsk and Luhansk republics have Tochka-U tactical missile systems in service,” Eduard Basurin, deputy head of DPR's People's Militia Department said, RBC reports.
Having analysed the trajectory of the rocket flight and the location of its fragments, military experts suggested that the rocket was launched from the territory controlled by Ukraine, located southwest of Kramatorsk.
The tail section of the rocket that crashed near the Kramatorsk railway station has an inscription in white paint on it saying: "This is for children”. Pictures of the crashed rocket debris appeared on numerous Telegram channels.
The Russian Defence Ministry released an official statement in connection with the missile attack on Kramatorsk.