Six individuals lost their lives in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine on May 12 due to Russian airstrikes, according to regional military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.
Hanzha reported that two fatalities occurred in Kryvyi Rih, where a fire broke out following a direct hit from a Shahed drone on a residential building. Local politician Oleksandr Vilkul confirmed the incident, stating, “Unfortunately, the deceased include a 43-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman. A nine-month-old girl sustained severe injuries and has been evacuated to a hospital for urgent medical care. The fire has been extinguished, and efforts to assess the damage are ongoing.”
In addition, four people were reported dead in the Dubovikivska community in the Synelnykove district. Hanzha indicated that these casualties resulted from aerial bomb strikes, with three men aged 37, 48, and 51 also sustaining injuries, for which they are receiving medical assistance.
Russian military forces have been conducting regular attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure using various types of weaponry, including drones, missiles, and multiple rocket launchers. Ukrainian authorities and international organizations classify these actions as war crimes, emphasizing their targeted nature.
Attacks on essential services and healthcare facilities aim to deprive civilians of electricity, heating, water supply, communication, and medical care, which some legal experts and human rights advocates argue could amount to genocidal actions. During the ongoing conflict, various forms of violence against the Ukrainian populace have been reported, including public declarations by Russian officials denying the existence of Ukrainians as a distinct ethnic group.
The 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide obligates signatory nations to prevent and punish acts of genocide in 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 conditions calculated to bring about the group’s destruction, preventing births within the group, and forcibly transferring children from one group to another.
Despite these allegations, Russian leadership continues to deny that its military targets civilian infrastructure, asserting that its operations are aimed at military objectives.
Recent Russian airstrikes in the Dnipropetrovsk region have resulted in six fatalities, including two in Kryvyi Rih from a drone attack. Ukrainian officials classify these strikes as war crimes, citing the targeting of civilian infrastructure and essential services.