President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized that all those affected by the morning attack of Russian troops on a minibus in Kherson are civilians, and the aggressor was aware of this.
This is reported by Finway
“In fact, this cruel safari on people occurs daily in our frontline and border communities. In Kharkiv, a drone struck a residential high-rise building. There were strikes on energy facilities in Mykolaiv region. They also targeted Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Sumy, Kherson, and Donetsk regions,” he listed.
Scale of attacks and threat to air defense systems
According to Zelensky, throughout the current week, Russia has used about 1,600 strike drones, nearly 1,100 guided aerial bombs, and three missiles against Ukraine. The President stressed that the Russian Federation is trying to exhaust the Ukrainian air defense system with massive attacks, so timely supply of missiles remains critically important for protecting the civilian population and infrastructure.
He also emphasized the need to maintain consistent pressure on the aggressor, as any easing of sanctions only strengthens the financial resources of the Russian Federation, which are then directed towards continuing the war. Zelensky thanked everyone working on expanding the sanctions lists and limiting the circumvention schemes from Russia.
Consequences of attacks and legal qualification of Russia’s actions
As a result of the strike on the minibus in Kherson on May 2, two people were killed, and seven others were injured, local authorities reported. In Kharkiv region, Russian shelling over the past day resulted in injuries to 19 people, including a child.
Russian troops continuously use various types of weapons — strike drones, missiles, guided aerial bombs, and multiple launch rocket systems — to attack Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure facilities across all regions of the country.
Ukrainian authorities and international organizations qualify these strikes as war crimes, emphasizing their targeted nature. Special attention is drawn to the systematic shelling of civilian life-support facilities — energy, water, medical, and communication systems — aimed at depriving people of basic living conditions.
Lawyers, genocide researchers, and human rights defenders emphasize that the actions of the Russian Federation may meet the definition of genocide. Among the signs are declarations of intent to destroy Ukrainians, public calls for the liquidation of the Ukrainian nation, targeted strikes on civilian infrastructure, persecution of pro-Ukrainian individuals in occupied territories, destruction of the intelligentsia, deportation of children, and destruction of cultural heritage.
The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted in 1948, obliges 149 member countries to prevent such crimes and punish them in peacetime and during war. The document defines genocide as actions aimed at the complete or partial destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Among the signs of genocide are the killing of group members, causing them serious bodily harm, creating conditions aimed at destruction, as well as the forcible transfer of children or prevention of childbirth.
The Russian leadership denies involvement in deliberate strikes on civilian infrastructure; however, the facts of mass destruction of hospitals, schools, energy facilities, and residential buildings indicate otherwise.