In the early hours of the morning, Russian forces launched attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv, resulting in injuries to 14 individuals, among them children, according to local authorities.
Kharkiv’s Mayor Igor Terekhov reported that a Russian drone strike hit the Saltivka district, injuring four people, including a 10-year-old girl. The attack also caused damage to private homes and agricultural buildings.
In Dnipro, Governor Oleksandr Hanža confirmed that ten people were wounded, including a 12-year-old boy, following a strike that affected a residential building.
These incidents are part of a broader pattern of assaults by Russian military forces using various weapons, including drones and missiles, targeting Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure across the country.
Ukrainian officials and international organizations classify these attacks as war crimes, emphasizing their deliberate nature. They argue that the bombardments of essential services and healthcare facilities aim to deprive civilians of electricity, heating, water supply, communication, and medical assistance, which constitutes genocidal actions.
Legal experts and human rights advocates assert that the ongoing war has seen Russia commit acts that may fit the definition of genocide. This includes public declarations by Russian leaders questioning the existence of Ukrainians as an ethnic group and calls for their destruction.
The 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which has 149 member states, obligates signatories to prevent and punish acts of genocide both in wartime and peacetime.
According to the Convention, genocide includes actions intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Signs of genocide include the killing of group members, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to bring about the group’s destruction.
The Russian leadership denies that its military targets civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, asserting that it does not intentionally harm civilians or destroy hospitals, schools, and other essential services.
Recent Russian strikes on Dnipro and Kharkiv resulted in 14 injuries, including children, highlighting ongoing assaults on civilian areas in Ukraine. Authorities classify these attacks as potential war crimes and genocidal actions.