Local authorities in Kherson have confirmed that two individuals succumbed to injuries sustained during a daytime shelling in the Korabelny district on March 1. The victims, an 85-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man, were pronounced dead despite the efforts of medical personnel, as reported by Yaroslav Shanko, head of the city military administration.
Shanko, along with Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, previously noted that two elderly women lost their lives at the scene immediately following the attack.
Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure continue to face regular assaults from Russian military forces, employing various types of weaponry, including drones, missiles, and multiple rocket launch systems. These attacks have drawn condemnation from both Ukrainian authorities and international organizations, who classify them as war crimes.
Officials assert that the strikes are deliberately aimed at undermining essential services for the population, including electricity, heating, water supply, and medical assistance. Such actions have been characterized as indicative of genocidal intent.
Legal experts and human rights advocates have raised concerns that the ongoing conflict has seen the Russian government engage in actions that could be classified as genocide against Ukrainian citizens. This includes public declarations by Russian officials questioning the existence of Ukrainians as a distinct ethnic group, alongside targeted attacks on infrastructure critical to civilian life.
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 both in wartime and peacetime. The Convention defines genocide as actions aimed at the complete or partial destruction of national, ethnic, racial, or religious groups.
Indicators of genocide include the killing of group members, inflicting serious bodily harm, deliberately creating life conditions aimed at the group’s destruction, and the forcible transfer of children from one group to another.
Despite these allegations, Russian leadership has denied that its military targets civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, maintaining that its operations are conducted in compliance with international law.
The shelling in Kherson resulted in two fatalities, with local authorities condemning the ongoing attacks on civilian infrastructure as war crimes. International legal experts have raised concerns about the potential classification of these actions as genocide.