In Merefa, Kharkiv region, the number of casualties from the missile strike by the Russian Federation that occurred on May 4 has risen to seven people. This was reported by the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleg Synegubov, who clarified that another victim died in the hospital.
This is reported by Finway
“The injuries of the 59-year-old man turned out to be too severe – the doctors fought for his life until the last moment, but they could not save him,” Synegubov wrote on Telegram.
Consequences of the attack: number of injured and scale of destruction
According to Synegubov, 14 injured individuals remain in Kharkiv hospitals, having sustained injuries as a result of the shelling. The regional prosecutor’s office previously reported that a total of 36 people were affected by the strike, including children.
As a result of the attack, residential buildings, outbuildings, shops, a service station, and vehicles were damaged. It has been preliminarily established that the Russian forces used an Iskander-type ballistic missile.
A three-day mourning period has been declared in the Merefa community for the victims of the tragedy, which will last from May 5 to May 7.
Systematic shelling and qualification of actions as war crimes
Russian military forces regularly strike Ukrainian cities using various types of weapons, including strike drones, missiles, aerial bombs, and multiple launch rocket systems. Such attacks are primarily aimed at civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, hospitals, energy, and water supply systems.
The Ukrainian authorities, together with international organizations, regard these actions as war crimes committed by the Russian Federation, emphasizing their targeted nature. Systematic shelling of vital infrastructure and healthcare facilities, which deprives people of access to electricity, heat, water, communication, and medical assistance, bears all the signs of genocide.
During the full-scale war, Russia is carrying out actions that may be classified as genocide: public calls for the destruction of Ukrainians, targeted attacks on civilians, deportation of children, persecution of individuals with pro-Ukrainian positions, destruction of cultural heritage, and altering the identity of children in occupied territories.
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, obliges 149 participating countries to prevent acts of genocide and punish them both during wartime and in peacetime. Genocide is defined as actions aimed at the complete or partial destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
The leadership of Russia, despite numerous evidence, denies accusations of targeted strikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, refuting facts of mass casualties among the civilian population and the destruction of hospitals, schools, and residential buildings.