The Worst Russian Strikes: How Does the “Russian World” Consistently Destroy Ukraine?
Russia continues to consistently destroy Ukraine. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Russian army has carried out multiple strikes against civilian facilities in Donetsk Region, Mykolaiv Region, Kremenchuk, Odesa, Kyiv and Vinnytsia, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties.
Ukrainian government, international organizations and Western countries accuse Russia of not just killing civilians, but also of violations of rules and customs of war.
Specialized international organizations are collecting the evidences, documenting the crimes and investigating Russia’s actions together with Ukrainian law-enforcement authorities. Among other violations of the international humanitarian law, Russia is accused of deliberate murder of civilians.
TSN.ua has prepared the list of the works Russian attacks against civilian population.
Missile Strike against Humanitarian Convoy in Zaporizhzhia
Friday morning, over 20 people were killed just outside of Zaporizhzhia in a Russian missile strike carried out using S-300 surface-to-air systems.
According tо Oleksandr Starukh, the Head of Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, at least 23 persons were killed and 28 people were injured in the attack. During the attack, the victims reportedly were waiting in the line to enter the Russia-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia Region.
" All emergency services, rescuers and medics are working on site", Oleksandr Starukh reported.
The missiles landed just outside of the checkpoint in Vasylivka. This was the only active access-control checkpoint, where a convoy of civilian cars was formed for entrance to Russia-controlled territory.
According to Ivan Fedorov, the Mayor of Melitopol, people periodically travel to Russia-controlled towns and villages in order to support their family members, deliver vital medicines to civilians and return back to Ukraine-controlled area.
"For now, it’s not even possible to count the number of fatal and non-fatal casualties. Melitopol residents may be among the victims”, he posted in his Telegram account.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the Deputy Head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, reported that the Russian troops fired a total of 16 missiles.
"Four missiles landed in the car market area, while other hit a line of vehicles and crowd of people at the access control checkpoint used for civilian traffic between Ukraine-controlled and Russia-seized territory”, he posted in Telegram.
Фото з відкритих джерел
Chasovyi Yar
Probably the highest civilian death toll was documented in the Russian missile strike against apartment block on Chasovyi Yar town, Bakhmut District, Donetsk Region.
The invaders attacked the town with population of over 10 thousand residents in the evening of July 9th. According to Ukrainian government, Russia used Iskander missiles for this strike.
A missile hit residential houses. Forty-eight dead bodies, including a 9-year-old boy who was killed along with his mother were retrieved from the wreckage.
Kremenchuk Shopping Mall Bombing
On June 27th, the invaders carried out a missile strike against Amstor Shopping Mall. Hundreds of civilians were staying inside during explosion. The missile strike resulted in a major fire at the shopping mall. The fire covered the area of over 10 thousand square meters during the first few hours after explosion.
The missile strike destroyed the entire structure of the shopping mall building. The invaders used 11-meter-long Kh-22 missile launched from Tu-22M3 bomber taking off from Shaykovka airfield in Kaluga Region of Russia. The missile was fired from the airspace of Kursk Region.
Over 22 persons were killed and over 50 people were injured in the attack.
The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that the target was a hanger with weapon systems supplied by the EU and the USA. The invaders allegedly targeted Kremenchuk Road Machinery Plant, but detonation of ammunitions caused fire at the shopping mall, which according to Russia’s claims, was supposed to be closed.
Kramatorsk Train Station Strike
One of the bloodiest attacks of this was a missile strike at Kramatorsk train station in April, when 61 civilians were killed, including many children.
On the day of attack, hundreds of people gathered at the train station waiting for evacuation trains to central and western parts of Ukraine.
Russia troops attacked the train station using the Tochka-U missile. As the Security Service of Ukraine later discovered, a missile was fired from a part of Donetsk Region controlled by Russian troops since 2014.
Recreation Camp Bombing in Odesa Region
In the early hours of July 1st, the Russia troops attacked Odesa Region. Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi District was hit by three Kh-22 missiles launched from the Black Sea, as Ukrainian military later reported.
Two missiles landed in a popular recreational town of Serhiivka. One recreation camp was totally ruined, and the other one, owned by Moldavian government, was damaged.
The third missile hit a nine-storey-high apartment block. The building was badly damaged: one section was almost totally destroyed. The attack took away the lives of 22 people, while 30 persons suffered injuries, including three children.
Mykolaiv Regional Administration Strike
On March 29th, the invaders attacked the building of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration. The explosion happened early morning, when the business day just started, and most employees were at the office. The attack took away the lives of 36 people. The bodies of 34 victims were retrieved from the rubble, two more people died at the hospital.
The shockwave from explosion at the nine-storey-high Regional State Administration building damaged nearby residential houses and other administrative buildings.
Vinnytsia Missile Strike
Vinnytsia missile strike happened on July 14th and took away the lives of 26 people.
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation claimed that it used high-precision warship-deployed Kalibr missiles to attack the “military facility”, where “the representatives of Ukrainian air forces were having a meeting with foreign weapon suppliers regarding delivery of fighter jets, weapon systems and aircraft fleet repair”. Russian official deliberately ignored multiple civilian casualties in this attack.
Ukrainian military and political leadership described the Vinnytsia Missile Strike as a terrorist attack, while Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba promised that all Russian war criminals would face trial.
The Operational Command “North” later reported that the Russian troops used three missiles launched from small missile warship deployed around Fiolent Cape in Crimea.
Mariupol Drama Theater
On March 16th, Russia air forces dropped a super-powerful bomb on the drama theater building in Mariupol downtown. The building was used as a shelter by Mariupol residents, whose housing was destroyed by Russian artillery shells.
According to the Mariupol City Council, the bomb dropped by a Russian pilot took away the lives of around 300 people.
Before the attack, around 600 people were staying inside the theater, including 300 persons in the underground shelter.
"People who were staying on the ground floor died in the bombing. These are around 300 civilians, including pregnant women and children”, Liudmyla Denisova, the Commissioner for Human Rights, then reported.
The authorities could not immediately initiate search and rescue mission because of intense street fighting near the theater and Russian artillery shellfire in the area.
Brief Reference:
On February 24th, 2022 Russia attacked Ukraine on the ground and in the airspace along the entire length of the state border. Territory of Belarus was used for invasion into Kyiv Region for the purpose of capturing the capital city. In the southern part of the country, the Russian army seized Kherson Region and a part of Zaporizhzhia Region, while on the North the invaders controlled some districts of Sumy and Chernihiv Region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the full-scale invasion the “special military operation”. Initially, the declared goals were “demilitarization”, “denazification” and later “protection of Donbas population”.
The Russian government claims that its army does not attack civilian facilities. Meanwhile, Russian air forces, missile troops, navy and artillery units daily barrage Ukrainian towns and cities destroying residential houses and civilian infrastructure facilities all over Ukraine.
As of September 25th, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has verified 14,844 casualties, including 5,996 fatal and 8,848 non-fatal cases, among Ukrainian civilians as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion. The UN has stressed that these figures may be much underestimated.
According to the Mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, over 20 thousand civilians were killed in the city of Mariupol alone during the siege in May.
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