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Workers begins clearing up the remain of missile that struck Karamatorsk on Friday

Several points of impact from the strike were visible, including what appeared to have been a direct hit on a car

Cleaning crews have arrived at the railway station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, where dozens of Ukrainians were killed by a Russian missile strike on Friday while waiting to flee fighting.


workers wearing plastic gloves gather scattered human remains. Others looked through papers and documents that were strewn across the station. Plastic bags filled with food lay on the ground, alongside shredded hats, gloves and shoes.


Several points of impact from the strike were visible, including what appeared to have been a direct hit on a car. Pools of blood and a deceased dog, partially covered by white sheeting, lay by the tracks.


At least 50 people, including five children, were killed in the attack, Ukrainian officials said Friday, with dozens more taken to local hospitals.


The remains of the missile were picked up and transported by specialists.


On the station concourse, a pile of abandoned luggage sat unattended. Meanwhile, the streets of Kramatorsk -- a city of more than 150,000 inhabitants -- appeared deserted on Sunday.

At the city's bus station, dozens of people were waiting to get out of the city. Buses are running to Sloviansk, towards the north, where trains are still operating.


A volunteer, Nikolai, said he had been helping with evacuations since the war began. “I was happy when I heard Russians were leaving the area around Kyiv, but then I saw they are coming to Donbas. I’m very worried,” he said.


Residents of Sloviansk have been leaving the city in recent days after local officials warned of a Russian offensive approaching from Izium.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strike in Kramatorsk a war crime in a message on Friday, and said it would be investigated in detail.


“This is another war crime of Russia, for which everyone involved will be held accountable,” he said, adding that Russian state propaganda had tried to blame Ukrainian armed forces for the attack.


“We expect a firm, global response to this war crime,” Zelensky said. “Like the massacres in Bucha, as well as many other Russian war crimes, the missile strike on Kramatorsk must be one of the charges at the tribunal, which is bound to happen."


Russia's military and senior officials have issued blanket denials of attacks against civilians, including claiming -- without evidence -- that the massacre of civilians in Bucha was staged. The killing of civilians during the Russian occupation of the town has been extensively documented.

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