- The following report provides an update as of January 8, 2024, on Russian war crimes and human rights violations in the war against Ukraine. It highlights instances of the use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians, resulting in casualties and damage to infrastructure.
- The document presents statistics on the number of children killed and injured, civilians affected, and damage to medical institutions since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
- The report details specific incidents in various regions, including Kyiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia.
- The information is sourced from Ukrainian authorities and emphasizes the grave humanitarian impact of the conflict.
The use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians is a crime against humanity and a violation of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. By killing civilians, the aggressor’s forces continue to commit crimes against humanity as defined by the Statute of the International Military Tribunal and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, cynically disregarding all the requirements of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. According to these norms, deliberate attacks on civilians who are not directly involved in hostilities are equated to war crimes.
The taking of civilian hostages is a direct violation of Articles 3 and 34 of the Geneva Convention with regard to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
As of January 08, 2024, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 520 children were killed, and more than 1186 children have been injured. Due to active hostilities in affected regions, there is no possibility to inspect the areas of shelling and destruction.
In Ukraine, at least 13 civilians were killed, and 116 more were injured by Russian military forces over the period of January 02-07, as a result of Russian aggression. Information is based on data provided by regional military administrations.
In Ukraine, since February 24, 2022, Russian invaders have damaged 1,501 objects of medical institutions. Another 195 were completely destroyed. This is reported by the Ministry of Health.
Kyiv and Region
It became known about the death of another civilian who was wounded in Kyiv during a massive missile attack on January 2. This is the third victim of a Russian missile hitting a residential building in the capital. A total of 22 people from those who were hospitalized on December 29 and January 2 are currently in the hospital in Kyiv. One of them is in serious condition.
Donetsk and Luhansk Region
During the day of January 7, the police recorded the consequences of 9 Russian attacks on Donetsk region. The occupiers shelled 7 settlements, targeted homes and social infrastructure with aviation, S-300 SAMs, “Smerch,” and “Grad” MLRSs, tube artillery. 1 civilian was killed, 1 more was injured. 21 civilian objects were damaged: 15 residential buildings, a school, a kindergarten, an outpatient clinic, an administrative building, a farm building, and a car.
On January 6, Russian troops fired 8 rockets at the Pokrovsk district. It is known that 5 children aged 3, 7, 9, 14, and 17 died as a result of the attack by the Russian occupiers. In addition, a woman died in Pokrovsk, and 7 more people were injured. Two people were injured in the village of Rivne. More than 30 private houses were also damaged as a result of the attack.
On January 4, Russian troops shelled Katerynivka in the Pokrovsk district with tube artillery. A 68-year-old man was killed by a shell explosion. Also, an 86-year-old man was taken to the hospital with a hip fracture and a shrapnel wound to the head. The Russian army attacked Krasnohorivka with the same weapon. A 73-year-old woman died from a wound in her own home. A fragment of Russian ammunition hit the woman in the temple. The occupiers also attacked Avdiivka. A 55-year-old local resident received a shrapnel wound in her back as a result of the shelling of the city from the “Grad” MLRS.
On January 3, Russian troops struck the town of Girnyk with artillery. One of the shells hit a private house where a mother and her minor son were staying. A 16-year-old teenager received bodily injuries and was urgently hospitalized. He was diagnosed with mine-explosive and craniocerebral injuries, contusions, and bruises. In addition, explosions damaged a private residential building and farm buildings.
Dnipro and Region
On the morning of January 8, the Russian occupation forces launched a massive shelling of the infrastructure of Dnipro region. Missiles were aimed at different regions of the region. So far, there is one death and 28 injured.
As a result of an enemy attack on Kryvyi Rih, a local resident received shrapnel wounds. A shopping center and 20 residential buildings were damaged. A 62-year-old woman died under rubble when a missile hit a private house in the Kryvyi Rih district.
Administrative buildings, gas stations, a five-story building, and cars were damaged in Novomoskovsk. The blast wave overturned the minibus with passengers. Previously, 28 people were injured, four of them children.
On January 6, the Russian military launched an artillery bombardment of Nikopol. A civilian was killed as a result of the shelling. A 16-year-old girl and a 66-year-old man were injured. Private houses, farm buildings, cars, gas pipelines, power lines were damaged.
On January 4, the Russian military carried out an artillery barrage and an attack by UAVs on Nikopol. Two men were injured and hospitalized. 8 private houses, outbuildings, a garage, a car, a private enterprise, a gas pipeline, power lines were damaged.
Kharkiv and Region
As a result of a Russian attack on the cities of Kharkiv and Zmiiv on the morning of January 8, one person was killed, five civilians were injured, two private houses, and a regional vocational education center were damaged.
On the evening of January 7, Russian servicemen shelled the town of Vilcha, Chuhuiv district, and damaged a boarding house. On the same day, the enemy attacked the village of Velykyi Burluk, Kupiansk district. The building of the hospital, the building of culture, and the civil enterprise were damaged. According to preliminary information, the enemy hit populated areas with guided aerial bombs. As a result of Russian artillery shelling, a residential building was damaged in the village of Kivsharivka, Kupiansk district.
On January 7, Russian occupiers shelled the village of Senkove in the Kupiansk district. A 17-year-old boy received a shrapnel wound. The village of Nechvolodivka of the Kupiansk district was also shelled. A civilian was killed. Another woman is injured. Residential buildings, farm buildings, and cars were destroyed and damaged in the settlement. Russian servicemen hit the villages with small arms fire.
On January 6, the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a mortar shelling of Vovchansk. A local resident received a mine-explosive injury. Residential buildings and the territory of the enterprise were damaged. In the night of the same day, Russian military personnel fired on Kupiansk with MLRS. The school building and residential buildings were damaged. A civilian was injured. As a result of subsequent shelling, private homes, farm buildings, a 5-story residential building, and a kindergarten were damaged.
On January 5, Russian servicemen shelled the village of Kozacha Lopan. Private homes were damaged. Also, on January 4 and on the night of January 5, the enemy systematically shelled Lyptsi of the Kharkiv district. Residential buildings, administrative buildings, farm buildings, and cars were damaged in the settlement.
On the evening of January 3, the Russian military shelled the village of Morokhovets. A 73-year-old man died, a woman was injured. On the same day, the enemy shelled the Kupiansk district with artillery. Residential buildings and commercial buildings were damaged.
On the morning of January 3, the Russian military launched a mortar shelling of Lyptsi, Kharkiv district. Residential buildings were damaged. On January 2, the Russian occupiers shelled Kupiansk with artillery. An 83-year-old woman was injured. The number of people killed as a result of the Russian shelling of Kharkiv on January 2 increased to two. Another woman died in the hospital. As a result of the enemy attack, multi-apartment residential buildings, commercial buildings, civil infrastructure, and cars were damaged. 61 people were injured, including six children.
Kherson and Region
Over the past day, January 7, the Russian army carried out 131 shelling in the Kherson region; two people were killed. 5 more were injured. This was announced by the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin. Residential quarters of populated areas, a critical infrastructure facility, and the territory of a plant in Kherson, a shop in Beryslav district were affected.
On January 6, a 9-year-old boy and a girl were injured as a result of shelling by the occupiers of the village of Darivka, Kherson region. Also, a 56-year-old man was hospitalized due to shelling of the Tyagynka community.
On January 5, the Russian military shelled a village in Darivka community of Kherson region. As a result of the enemy attack, a local resident received fatal injuries. Another man was injured; he was taken to the hospital.
On the same day, the Russian military once again shelled the city of Kherson. As a result of the attack, four people were injured to varying degrees. In addition, a warehouse with humanitarian aid, residential buildings, and vehicles were damaged.
On January 4, the Russian military shelled the Stanislav community with artillery weapons. A 62-year-old local resident died as a result of the enemy attack. In addition, a 48-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man were injured. Two private houses and two cars were also damaged as a result of the shell explosion.
On January 3, the Russian military shelled a village in the Darivka community of the Kherson region. As a result of an enemy attack, an 86-year-old local resident received fatal injuries.
Khmelnytskyi and Region
In the city of Khmelnytskyi, two people were killed, and an apartment building was damaged due to a Russian missile attack in the morning of January 8.
Mykolaiv and Region
On January 4, the armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out an air attack on populated areas of the Gorokhivske community with unmanned aerial vehicles. As a result of the attack, hangars with agricultural products and premises on the territory of one of the agricultural enterprises were damaged, diesel fuel was spilled, and private residential buildings and a cultural center were also damaged.
On January 3, the Russian army shelled Snigurivka in the Bashtanka district. Four local residents – two men, a woman, and a 12-year-old girl – were injured. The girl is in serious condition. As a result of the attack, more than 30 residential buildings and commercial buildings, as well as vehicles of the citizens, were damaged.
Zaporizhzhia and Region
In the morning of January 8, the army of the aggressor country launched another missile attack on Zaporizhzhia. According to preliminary information, five local residents were injured. The missiles hit near residential buildings. Windows and balconies in high-rise buildings were damaged by the blast wave and debris. Cars were destroyed and mutilated. The industrial facilities of the regional center were destroyed.
Provided by: The Government Office for the Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration
Sources: Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Office of the Prosecutor General, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, State Emergency Service, National Police, relevant city and town councils, and regional state administrations.
This document is an unofficial translation from the original in Ukrainian.
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