The Russian aggression is marked by the subsequent deliberate attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine’s major cities. One of the first precision-guided missiles went into a children’s playground in central Kyiv’s Shevchenko Park.
Another was found at a tourist site, more damaging were strikes on energy infrastructure and other civilian targets. After multiple battlefield defeats Russian soldiers have suffered, they are now defaulting to their hallmark in recent conflicts; massive direct attacks on civilian targets. Given the large scale of the attacks, it is likely that they were premeditated.
We have examined thousands of verified photos and videos; descriptions and visual evidence from official announcements from Ukrainian military and government agencies. Because of the difficulties in getting comprehensive reporting of events in wartime, the tallies are undercounts.
But the breadth of evidence seen so far has been overwhelming, normal everyday life for many people in Ukraine has been obliterated.
With the beginning of the invasion came aggressive airstrikes against military and government buildings and airports in Ukraine. Soon after, Russia appeared to shift many of its attacks to highly populated areas with important civilian infrastructure.
Russian attacks have damaged preschools, post offices, museums, sports facilities and factories. Power and gas lines have been severed; bridges and railway stations blown up. At least over 50 houses of worship have become targets, with crumpled churches everywhere.
Civilians have been killed in their cars. Remnants of a missile were found in a zoo. In Mariupol, residents have been subjected to an unending onslaught by Russian forces, and bodies are being buried in mass graves. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) verified a total of 6,306 civilian deaths during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as of October 16, 2022. Of them, 397 were children.
Russian forces bombed the city’s Drama Theater, where hundreds of people had been sheltering, most likely increasing the toll. The word “children” was written in Russian in giant letters on the pavement on both sides of the building, clearly visible from the sky.
It is the agenda of Russian soldiers to kill Ukrainian civilians as much as possible.
