Tuesday, 16 Jul ‘24

Strike on Ukraine’s Largest Children's Hospital “a War Crime” 

Ukraine’s security service (SSU) classified the attack on the Okhmatdyt National Children's Specialised Hospital of July 8 as a war crime. The Kyiv strike claimed 44 lives, including four children, with over 100 injured. The preliminary investigation showed that Ukraine’s largest medical facility for children was hit by a Kh-101 missile in a targeted strike as evidenced by the analysis of the data of the missile trajectory, the scale of the damage and various OSINT materials.  

The destruction of more than 60 per cent of the hospital, which was caring for over 600 children, was part of a large-scale attack that Russian forces conducted across Ukraine, in particular the regions of Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Donetsk. Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin appealed to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the nationwide attacks.  

Russian General Suspected of Shelling Residential Complex in Odesa 

Police investigators in Odesa reported in absentia Russian Lieutenant General Serhey Kobylash on charges of ordering the shelling of a civilian residential complex in Odesa, in violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder (Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine).  

Investigators found that on April 23, 2022, the 59-year-old official ordered the launch of Kh-101 cruise missiles against Odesa. One of the missiles hit a 16-story apartment building, killing eight civilians, including a three-month-old baby and a pregnant woman, and injuring 11. Another cruise missile hit a cemetery, injuring one woman and destroying or damaging numerous graves. According to the police report, investigators interrogated 96 victims and 20 witnesses and conducted forensic and military examinations to obtain the evidence base to issue the suspicion. 

Russian Commander Convicted for Torture in Zaporizhzhia Region 

On June 14, the Vilnyansk district court of the Zaporizhzhia region sentenced  Russian commander Ayub Eldarov to 12 years in absentia for illegally imprisoning and torturing civilian residents of the village of Chernihivka, in the region’s Berdyansky district. The court found him guilty of violating the laws and customs of war as per Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code. Eldarov is the commander of the battalion of the 96th regiment of the operational assignment of Russian Guard’s 46th separate brigade. According to the investigation, the 39-year-old lieutenant colonel led the village's so-called "military commandant's office” and instructed his subordinates to imprison and torture civilians with pro-Ukrainian positions. He reportedly took part in some of the events. Residents were tortured with electric currents and the security service also reported the existence of “gas chambers” in which civilians had to inhale toxic gases.  

The sentence on the case, which has at least three victims, has not been published  in the court register as it contains information that cannot be disclosed publicly.  

Russian Colonel Issued Suspicion over Kharkiv Museum Air Strike 

Security service investigators reported in absentia a suspicion against Russian colonel Ivan Panchenko for the shelling of the National Literary and Memorial Museum of Hryhoriy Skovoroda in the Kharkiv region, in violation of the laws and customs of war (Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code. The 43-year-old commands the 159th Fighter Aviation Regiment of Russia’s Western Military District. According to the investigation, on May 6, 2022, Panchenko ordered an air strike with a Kh-35 anti-ship missile of the against the museum, named after Ukraine’s 18th century philosopher and poet Hryhoriy Skovoroda. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, since February 24, 2022, more than 1,080 cultural and historical objects in Ukraine have been destroyed, damaged or looted by Russian troops. A specialised unit within the prosecutor’s office provides procedural guidance in criminal proceedings regarding war crimes against cultural heritage; currently about 70 of such cases are under investigation.