Why russia has attacked civilian objects almost 60 times more often than military ones during five months of the war
Contrary to the statements of the russian president that “the russian army does not strike at any civilian objects”, most of the attacks are aimed at peaceful residential areas, including houses, hospitals, schools, and train stations.
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the russian army has struck 17.3 thousand civilian targets and about 300 military targets.
Western and Ukrainian military experts are convinced that about 80% of strikes on civilian infrastructure in settlements located along the front line, such as Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Bakhmut, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, are deliberately inflicted by the russian army. The command of russian troops uses moral and psychological pressure against civilians and soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, local authorities and the country’s leadership. The kremlin hopes that the shelling will induce local residents to put pressure on the central government and oppose the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is also an attempt to force the local authorities to surrender the settlement, which may have the impression that if it comes under the control of the russian occupation troops, the shelling will stop.
The “scorched earth” or “firewall” tactics replaced the previous russian army’s reliance on mobile infiltration groups, which was used in Chernihiv, Kyiv, Sumy regions and was completely neutralized by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The new tactic consists in massive fire strikes to destroy all objects of possible resistance in a certain area of the territory, and then gradually advance troops to the “cleared” territory. That is how the occupiers were able to occupy Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.
By mid-July, more than 50% of the total housing fund was damaged or destroyed in 23 cities located on the front line. The housing fund of Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Bucha, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk sustained the severest destruction.
Since February 24, at least 140 thousand residential buildings have been destroyed or damaged, which is 38% of Ukraine’s financial losses during the war. In general, Ukraine has lost 6% of its housing stock. The number of Ukrainians left without a roof already exceeds 3.5 million people or 8% of the country’s population.
These destructions can be compared to the damage caused to the soviet cities during the Second World War, when the German army’s strikes destroyed 90% of the housing stock of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) and Kursk, and 92% of Voronezh.
Medical institutions – hospitals, medical centers, maternity hospitals, which according to the unwritten rules of warfare have a special status in the combat zone, have become the target of russian attacks in the current war.
More than 830 healthcare institutions across the country were damaged, 14% of them completely ruined or damaged, more than 500 pharmacies and about 200 emergency vehicles were destroyed, at least 18 doctors were killed, 43 wounded.
Attacks on medical facilities are a separate type of terrorism to make the civilian population aware that there are no safe places left.
Children’s institutions are not left without russian “attention”. During five months of war 2129 educational institutions were bombed and shelled, 216 of them were completely destroyed. The damaged and destroyed educational facilities include schools (46%), kindergartens (33%). Large-scale shelling damaged 25 orphanages, boarding schools and homes for the elderly.
According to international standards, destruction of cultural objects is considered a separate type of war crime.
Over 530 Ukrainian cultural and art institutions have been destroyed during the invasion. Religious objects (33% of cases), theaters and houses of culture (15% of cases) most often come under fire. Among the destroyed monuments there are at least 7 mass graves of soviet soldiers who died in World War II.
In addition to targeted attacks on civilians, another reason for shelling residential, social or cultural objects is the low accuracy of russian weapons. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, over 70% of russian missiles do not hit their intended targets.
In fact, russia has practically no highly effective precision weapons in service, and the vast majority of ammunition is unguided, of which more than 200 are prohibited by international treaties.
Another reason for such a large number of strikes on civilian targets is the poor quality of intelligence in the russian army and the use of outdated or erroneous data.
However, regardless of the reasons for the destruction of civilian objects and civilians by russian troops, the tactic of “scorched earth” remains a war crime throughout the world, and the kremlin will be held responsible for it.
# infoterror
