On February 20, Russian forces launched a missile attack on the Slobidsky district of Kharkiv, according to local authorities. The Situation Center reported that windows in several apartment buildings were shattered as a result of the strike.
Igor Terekhov, the city’s mayor, confirmed the damage, while Oleg Synegubov, head of the regional military administration, noted that two vehicles caught fire due to the shelling. Authorities have not reported any casualties from this incident.
This attack is part of a broader pattern of assaults by Russian military forces, which frequently target Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure using various types of weaponry, including drones, missiles, and multiple rocket launch systems.
Ukrainian officials and international organizations classify these strikes as war crimes, asserting that they are deliberately aimed at civilian populations. The assaults on essential services and healthcare facilities are seen as attempts to deprive people of electricity, heating, water supply, communication, medical assistance, and other critical living conditions.
Legal experts and human rights advocates have raised concerns that these actions may constitute genocidal behavior. They cite statements from Russian officials questioning the existence of Ukrainians as an ethnic group and calling for their elimination. Specific actions that have drawn attention include targeted strikes on infrastructure, persecution of pro-Ukrainian individuals in occupied territories, and the systematic destruction of cultural heritage.
The 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide obligates its 149 member states to prevent and punish acts of genocide during both wartime and peacetime. The Convention defines genocide as actions intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
Indicators of genocide include the killing of group members, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children from one group to another.
Despite the evidence presented, Russian leadership continues to deny that its military is intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, which has resulted in civilian casualties and the destruction of hospitals, schools, and essential utilities.
The recent missile strike in Kharkiv highlights the ongoing conflict and the pattern of attacks on civilian infrastructure by Russian forces. Ukrainian officials and international bodies are increasingly categorizing these actions as war crimes and potential genocidal acts.