On the evening of Tuesday 27 June, a Russian missile hit a crowded restaurant in Kramatorsk, Donetsk. As of Thursday 29 June, when rescue operations ended, 12 civilians are known to have been killed, including three young girls, and 60 more injured. The Kremlin claims a temporary Ukrainian army command post was hit.
Residential buildings, shops, and surrounding restaurants were damaged, with many reduced to rubble in the strike which landed in the city centre.
A freelance journalist told the BBC he estimated up to 80 staff and patrons were in the restaurant at the time of the strike.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, AOAV has recorded 14,377 civilian casualties of explosive weapon use across 3,177 incidents. Donetsk is by far the worst impacted oblast, accounting for 36% (5,207) of civilians harmed by explosive weapons in the country in that time. Mariupol has been the worst affected city in Donetsk: since the invasion AOAV has recorded 665 civilian casualties there, of whom 624 were killed and 41 injured.
In Donetsk, multiple urban areas (1,864 civilian casualties) and urban residential areas (1,795) have been the most targeted locations so far, together accounting for 70% of civilian casualties recorded in the oblast. Entertainment venues (691 civilian casualties), villages (165), and transport-related infrastructure (148) are the other most affected locations.
Ground-launched weapons have caused 82% (4,291) of civilian casualties in Donetsk, in particular non-specific shelling (3,214 civilian casualties), rockets (377), missiles (368), and artillery shelling (175). On the other hand, air-launched attacks have been much more injurious: air strikes have caused 730 civilian casualties across 24 recorded incidents in the oblast, harming on average 30.4 civilians per strike.
For a regularly updated breakdown of AOAV data on civilian harm in Ukraine, check out AOAV’s Ukraine Casualty Monitor.
AOAV’s casualty figures represent the lowest of estimations in terms of the number of people killed and injured by explosive weapon use. In an effort to quantify the explicit harm caused by specific explosive weapons, AOAV solely records incident-specific casualty figures, as reported in English-language media.
AOAV condemns the use of violence against civilians and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. All actors should stop using explosive weapons with wide-area effects where there is likely to be a high concentration of civilians.
Did you find this story interesting? Please support AOAV's work and donate.
Donate