In Ukraine civilians are dying. There are no complete or definitive figures, but it is a fact: the UN counts at least 351 non-military deaths, most of them in bombings, and warns that this figure is an underestimate.
Hundreds of videos and photos shared on social media show attacks on civilian infrastructure. EL PAÍS has analyzed some thirty events, focusing on those collected by verification groups such as the Center for Information Resilience and bellingcat. We show them at the end of the text.
An example is the bombing of some blocks of flats in Borodyankawest of Kiev.
A video shot in the adjoining park shows dilapidated buildings and a slide amid debris and fallen trees. 50 meters away Pinocchio nursery schoolwhich has its playground there.
another shot with different angle shows one of the burning buildings. The Donde Sasha restaurant, which occupied the ground floor of the building, had an arch at the entrance that is now demolished and a garden that has disappeared. The roundabout is littered with debris.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
subscribe
On March 1, in Borodyanka there were 21 civilian deaths and more than 100 wounded, according to the regional administration.
On February 25, an artillery attack took place on an Okhtyrka nursery, a city of 50,000 inhabitants about 100 kilometers west of Kharkov. A seven-year-old girl and five other people died, according to the NGO Save the Children.
a verified video by the Bellingcat research group shows the moment after the attack. Half a dozen impacts can be seen on the roof of the school and in the courtyard at the entrance. Two bodies are also seen lying on the ground.
In the surroundings of the school there are other study centers and many blocks of flats.
On March 1, a Russian missile hit the Kharkiv regional administration building, which presides over Plaza de la Libertad and is surrounded by offices, cafes and restaurants. The moment of the attack was captured on video released by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
State emergency services say there were at least seven dead in the explosion, although local authorities gave different death tolls throughout the day.
The building is in the center of Kharkiv, the country’s second most populous city, which has suffered heavy bombardment this week.
About 500 meters to the south, another video captured the collapse of the Faculty of Economics at Karmazin University. The building is in a university block, surrounded by bars and cafes. The adjoining building is a police center, also damaged.
The Russians have also bombed residential areas on the outskirts of Kharkiv. On February 28, a block of flats in the suburb of Obriy came under fire from an airstrike. Videos and photos show explosions at the foot of the building, which is close to a clinic, a school, a pharmacy and a market.
There has been shelling and heavy fighting around Kiev since the first days of the invasion. Especially in the northwest, near Gostomel airport, which was soon rendered useless by bombs.
Videos taken between February 28 and March 1 show the consequences of the attack in a residential neighborhood of Irpin, a town that touches with Kiev. In the images you see blocks of houses reduced to rubble. In the area there is a private nursery, a park and grocery stores. According to local authorities quoted by the BBCthere were several civilian casualties.
Medical Center
and inquiries
Medical Center
and inquiries
We have highlighted five bombings of urban areas, but the attacks against civilians number in the dozens. The map below shows them in Kiev, Bucha, Kharkov, Mariupol, Mykolay, Kherson or Cernihiv. Unfortunately, this is not a complete or definitive list.
The use of cluster bombs, a weapon prohibited by international conventions, although neither Russia nor Ukraine signed them, has been documented in some of these attacks. These bombs explode in dispersion over a large area, indiscriminately, which makes them a direct threat against the population. International Amnesty has certified its use against civilians in Kharkov on February 28 and Humans Rights Watch denounces its use in the bombing of a hospital in Vuhledar, in Donbas.
Note
All verified images for this article have been collected between February 28 and March 4, 2022. You can access it at this link to the full list.
Follow all the international information in Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.
#Blocks #flats #university #kindergarten #civilian #targets #Putins #war #Ukraine