On the night of April 17, Russian forces launched a massive airstrike on Ukraine, firing a ballistic missile, the Iskander-M, from temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as 172 strike drones. This was reported by the Air Force Command.
This is reported by Finway
Details of the Air Attack and Air Defense Actions
According to military sources, the drone launches occurred from various directions: Bryansk, Kursk, Oryol, Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, and from the Gvardeyskoye area in occupied Crimea. The main types of drones used were Shahed, Gerbera, Italmas, and other models.
“According to preliminary data, as of 08:00, air defense has shot down/suppressed 147 enemy UAVs of the Shahed, Gerbera, Italmas types, and drones of other types in the north, south, and east of the country,” the report states.
The military also confirmed hits from one ballistic missile and 20 strike drones in eight different locations across Ukraine. Additionally, debris was recorded falling on four more sites.
Threat to Civil Infrastructure and Qualification of Actions by Russia
Russian troops continue to systematically attack Ukrainian cities and civil infrastructure using various types of weapons: strike drones, missiles, guided bombs, and multiple launch rocket systems. Such actions cover all regions of the country.
Ukrainian authorities and international organizations regard the mass shelling of vital systems and healthcare facilities as war crimes committed by Russia, emphasizing the targeted nature of these attacks. Particular concern is raised by strikes aimed at depriving the population of electricity, water supply, heating, communication, and medical assistance, which bear signs of genocide according to international standards.
Human rights defenders emphasize that the Russian leadership has repeatedly publicly stated its intentions to destroy the Ukrainian people as an ethnic group and is also taking actions aimed at altering the identity of Ukrainian children, deportation, and the destruction of cultural heritage.
The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, ratified by 149 countries, defines genocide as acts intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Such acts include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to them, creating conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the group, preventing births within the group, forcibly transferring children, and publicly inciting to commit such crimes.
At the same time, the Russian leadership denies accusations of deliberate strikes on civil infrastructure, insisting that their army supposedly does not attack civilians, schools, hospitals, energy facilities, and water supply systems.