On 3 March 2022, 47 people were killed in a series of airstrikes in
Chernihiv by Russian forces during the
siege of the city, during the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
and
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
described the strikes as a
war crime.
Attack
On 3 March 2022, just after 12:00 (UTC+2), six
unguided aerial bombs were filmed falling in a residential area in
Chernihiv,
in a triangular
public square formed by
Viacheslava Chornovila and Kruhova streets (). Analysis by
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
found that (at least) eight bombs fell.
A witness living in Ivana Bohuna Street, Alina, heard a loud buzzing sound before the bombs exploded.
The film of the attack was recorded on a
dashboard camera
A dashboard camera or simply dashcam, also known as car digital video recorder (car DVR), driving recorder, or event data recorder (EDR), is an onboard camera that continuously records the view through a vehicle's front windscreen and sometimes ...
(dashcam). The film shows the six bombs falling and an explosion. Other online media was published showing bodies of the victims, survivors being carried away on stretchers, firemen trying to put out fires in the main apartment complex that had been hit, and cars and trees on fire. Regional Governor Viacheslav Chaus told reporters that two schools were hit.
Ukrainian-born United States Congresswoman
Victoria Spartz (
IN-R) told reporters that her grandmother lived in a building nearby and the windows had all been destroyed.
The same day, two schools (№18 and №21) and 8 private houses were destroyed, and 7 more houses heavily damaged, in another place in Chernihiv, in the vicinity of Biloruskyi Lane.
Victims
Yulia Matvienko, also an Ivana Bohuna Street resident, survived the bombing with a head injury. Her three children were uninjured, but had to crawl out from under the rubble after the explosion.
Local emergency services recorded 38 men and 9 women killed by the bombing and 18 people injured.
Investigations
As
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
was unable to identify a legitimate military target nearby, it said the attack could be a
war crime of the 2022 invasion.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
(HRW) found no evidence of a "significant
ilitarytarget in or near the intersection when it was hit, ... pointing to a potentially deliberate or reckless
indiscriminate attack In international humanitarian law and international criminal law, an indiscriminate attack is a military attack that fails to distinguish between military objectives and protected (civilian) objects. Indiscriminate attacks strike both military and p ...
." HRW called for the
International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine and the United Nations ''Commission of Inquiry'' to decide if a war crime had occurred and to hold to account the people responsible. The HRW investigation included telephone interviews with three witnesses and two other Chernihiv residents, and analysis of 22 videos and 12 photographs. The witnesses interviewed by HRW stated that they were unaware of military targets or operations in the neighbourhood.
A bomb crater consistent with a 500 kg bomb was found.
FAB-500
The FAB-500 is a Soviet-designed general purpose air-dropped bomb with a high-explosive warhead, primarily used by the Russian Air Force, former Soviet republics and customer countries. The original M-54 model was rolled out in 1954, shape ...
bombs were known to be used in the 2022 Russian invasion.
See also
*
16 March 2022 Chernihiv breadline attack
*
August 2023 Chernihiv missile strike
*
War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities and armed forces have committed multiple war crimes in the form of deliberate attacks against civilian targets, massacres of civilians, torture and rape of women and children, ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chernihiv
Airstrikes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russian war crimes in Ukraine
March 2022 events in Ukraine
Chernihiv
Bombing
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...
Chernihiv
21st-century mass murder in Ukraine
Airstrikes conducted by Russia
Building bombings in Europe
Attacks on buildings and structures in 2022
War crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Northeastern Ukraine campaign
History of Chernihiv
Articles containing video clips