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

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

was unable to identify a legitimate military target nearby, it said the attack could be a war crime of the 2022 invasion.

(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.

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

Attack

Victims

Investigations

See also

References