Two people were killed and seven others injured in Kherson when Russian forces shelled a local market on May 24, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
The attack occurred around 10:45 AM in the Dniprovskyi district, where artillery fire struck the market area. Victims suffered from blast injuries, shrapnel wounds, and concussive trauma, as reported by authorities.
Russian military forces have been consistently targeting Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure using various weapons, including drones, missiles, and multiple rocket launch systems. These attacks have raised serious concerns among Ukrainian officials and international organizations, who classify them as war crimes.
Officials assert that the deliberate targeting of essential services, such as electricity, heating, and medical facilities, aims to deprive civilians of basic necessities, which some legal experts describe as genocidal actions. Throughout the ongoing conflict, there have been numerous allegations of crimes against humanity committed by Russian forces against Ukrainian citizens.
Legal analysts and human rights advocates point to statements made by Russian leadership that deny the existence of Ukrainians as a distinct ethnic group, as well as calls for their destruction. Such rhetoric, combined with targeted attacks on infrastructure and the persecution of pro-Ukrainian individuals in occupied territories, has led to accusations of systematic efforts to erase Ukrainian identity.
The 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide obligates signatory countries to prevent and punish acts of genocide, both in 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, and deliberately creating conditions calculated to bring about the group’s destruction. Despite these accusations, Russian leadership continues to deny that its military is intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure or causing civilian casualties.
A recent artillery strike in Kherson has resulted in two fatalities and multiple injuries, raising alarms over ongoing attacks on civilian areas by Russian forces. Authorities are classifying these incidents as potential war crimes, with broader implications for the treatment of Ukrainian citizens amidst the conflict.