The 5 Deadliest Russian Attacks on Ukrainian Civilians

The Kremlin claimed on Friday Russian forces never targeted civilian infrastructure after Ukraine blamed Moscow for a missile attack that killed over 50 people in the eastern village of Groza.

"We repeat that the Russian military does not strike civilian targets. Strikes are carried out on military targets, on places where military personnel are concentrated," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in his daily briefing.

Here are the five deadliest known Russian attacks on civilian targets since the start of the war, in chronological order:

Mariupol theatre 

Within days of the war starting in February 2022 Russia is accused of war crimes after its forces bomb a theatre in the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol on March 16, 2022 where scores of civilians had taken refuge.

Local authorities estimate some 300 people died in the attack on Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater.

Satellite images of the theatre taken days earlier show the Russian word for children had been painted in giant letters on the ground outside to try protect it from air strikes.

Kramatorsk train station 

On the morning of April 8, 2022, a Russian rocket slams into a packed train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, where thousands of people have gathered to board evacuation trains.

Sixty-one people are killed and more than 160 injured, according to the local mayor’s office.

Experts say the rocket, which was inscribed “for our children” in Russian, was armed with cluster munitions.

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Zaporizhzhia convoy

On September 30, 2022, at least 30 civilians are killed in a barrage of rockets on a humanitarian convoy outside the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

The attack took place as hundreds of people were waiting in a line of vehicles to cross into the Russian-controlled part of the region to pick up relatives and deliver aid, hours before President Vladimir Putin formally annexed Zaporizhzhia and three other Ukrainian regions.

Ukraine said Russia fired 16 rockets in total. Russian-backed forces blamed Ukraine.

Dnipro apartment block

On January 14, 2023, at least 46 people were killed in a missile strike on an apartment building in the central city of Dnipro.

The attack ripped open the side of the nine-storey Soviet-era housing block. Six children were among the victims.

Ukrainian officials and experts including the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said the attack was carried out using a Russian Kh-22 cruise missile.

Russia denied responsibility.

Funeral massacre 

On October 5, 2023, a missile kills at least 52 people, including a six-year-old child, gathered for a wake in the village of Groza, in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

The mourners for a fallen Ukrainian soldier had gathered at a cafe in the village of just 330 inhabitants. The soldier’s wife and son were among the dead.

Customers in a shop in the same building were also killed.

The United Nations human rights office says it appeared to be a Russian missile.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of a deliberate strike.