The death toll from a recent Russian missile strike in Dnipro has increased to 12, with two of the victims being children, according to Alexander Ganja, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration. Initial reports indicated nine fatalities.
Rescue teams recovered the bodies of a woman and an eight-year-old boy from the rubble of a damaged four-story building in Dnipro. Ganja later confirmed the retrieval of another woman’s body, bringing the total confirmed deaths to 12.
In addition to the fatalities, 37 individuals sustained injuries, with 22 remaining hospitalized. The injured are suffering from shrapnel wounds, fractures, lacerations, and blast injuries. Ganja noted that search and rescue operations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, in Kyiv, local authorities reported that the death toll from the Russian strike has risen to six. Rescue teams continue to work at various locations to address the aftermath of the attack. As of noon, medical officials confirmed 64 injuries and six deaths in the capital, with the possibility that these figures may rise.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones overnight, with 40 missiles and 602 drones intercepted. The primary target of these strikes was Kyiv, but other regions, including Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia, were also affected.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed responsibility for a “massive strike” targeting defense industry facilities and fuel and transport infrastructure in Ukraine during the night of June 2, asserting that all designated targets were hit.
Russian forces have been consistently attacking Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure using various types of weaponry, including drones, missiles, and rocket systems.
Ukrainian officials and international organizations have classified these attacks as war crimes, emphasizing their deliberate nature. They argue that the strikes on essential services and healthcare facilities are aimed at depriving civilians of electricity, heat, water, communication, and medical assistance, which could be indicative of genocidal actions.
Legal experts and human rights advocates assert that Russia’s actions during the ongoing conflict encompass various forms of crimes that could be classified as genocide. These include declarations of intent to destroy Ukrainians as an ethnic group, public calls for their extermination, targeted attacks on vital infrastructure, and the persecution of pro-Ukrainian individuals in occupied territories.
The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the UN General Assembly, 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. Signs of genocide include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions aimed at the group’s destruction, and forcibly transferring children from one group to another.
Despite these allegations, Russian leadership denies that its military conducts targeted strikes against civilian infrastructure, claiming that it does not intentionally kill civilians or destroy hospitals, schools, and other essential services.
The recent Russian missile strike in Dnipro has resulted in 12 confirmed deaths, including two children, while injuries have been reported in multiple regions. Ukrainian officials classify the attacks as war crimes, citing their targeted nature against civilian infrastructure.