Ukraine train system attacks may be war crimes, experts say

Russia’s attack on a Ukrainian train station that killed more than 20 people this week is the latest in a series of strikes on the country’s railway system that some international legal scholars say may be war crimes.

While Russia claimed that it had targeted the train because it was carrying Ukrainian troops and equipment on Wednesday, an Associated Press reporter on the ground said there was no visible indication that Ukrainian troops were among the dead, who included children. If civilians were the target, experts said Thursday, the attack could be considered a war crime, AP reported.

“A train station is generally a civilian object and should not be a target of attack,” said Jennifer Trahan, a clinical professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs.

Wednesday’s attack in Chaplyne, a small village in southeastern Ukraine, was one of the deadliest in months on the country’s extensive railway system. In the more than six months since Russia invaded Ukraine, the AP and the PBS series “Frontline” have independently verified more than 40 attacks on civilian infrastructure that could be considered war crimes. Three of those hit the country’s railway infrastructure and seven have involved local bus stops, killing more than 100 civilians. In these attacks, there has been little evidence to back up Moscow’s claims that Ukrainian troops were the target.

The deadly strike Wednesday came as Ukrainians were defiantly celebrating their Independence Day while remaining on high alert because of threats that Russia would use the occasion to mount attacks.

This story is part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” that includes the War Crimes Watch Ukraine interactive experience and an upcoming documentary.

More than 50 people, including children, were on their way to flee Donbas when they were killed in a Russian attack on a train station in Kramatorsk in April. Photos from the aftermath showed dead bodies and abandoned luggage strewn around the station. Rail cars were crushed and hollowed out by fire.

Mykola Lukashuk, chair of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, said during a press briefing Friday that the shelling in Chaplyne led to a fire in five carriages of the train. A family, including a 17-year-old daughter, was killed when its car was struck as it was traveling from Donetsk.

“People were being evacuated from Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, and a train was leaving from there to Lviv,” Lukashuk said.

It’s not only the train stations that have become targets. Dozens of civilians waiting for buses have been killed in similar attacks. The AP has counted seven incidents where civilians waiting for a bus were killed. Photos of their bodies lying in pools of blood were shared across Telegram after the fact. In Mykolaiv, five people were killed and a dozen were injured at a bus stop during a Russian attack on July 29. Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said on Telegram at the time that Russian forces had fired cluster munitions at a crowded intersection around 10 a.m.