Crimea as a launchpad: Russian Forces utilise temporarily occupied Crimea for deadly attacks on civilians in Ukraine – Crimean Human Rights Group
Since February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation has been constantly attacking many civil facilities of Ukraine with missiles, UAVs, and air bombs from the territory of occupied Crimea and the Black Sea, causing fatalities and injuries among civilians.
The Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa was damaged in another Russian attack, in the early hours of July 23, 2023According to the Review of the Crimean Human Rights Group on the human rights situation in Crimea from January to March 2024, since late September 2022, Russians have been active in using Iran-made “Shahed” kamikaze drones to attack civilian infrastructure. A substantial part of such drones is also launched from the occupied peninsula’s territory.
On the morning of January 8, 2024, the Russian Armed Forces launched a massive attack, using cruise, ballistic, and anti-aircraft guided missiles as well as attack UAVs. Six “Iskander-M” ballistic missiles fired from the areas of towns of Dzhankoy and Chauda attacked the City of Zaporizhzhia, resulting in injuring five people in residential areas. In total, four Ukrainians were killed and 45 more were injured in that attack.
On March 15, 2024, the Russian Armed Forces attacked Odesa with two “Iskander-M” missiles from Crimea. The attack caused 21 fatalities and injury of 73 persons. The missiles destroyed a three-story building of a recreational facility and four private houses and at least 64 private houses were damaged.
Among the fatalities and injured are local residents as well as medical and rescue staff who arrived at the place of the first missile hit. The second hit was when the emergency services were providing aid to the victims of the first one.
On the night and morning of March 22, 2024, the Russian Armed Forces launched a combined attack on Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure facilities using attack drones, ballistic and cruise missiles, including “Iskander-M” missiles from the territory of Crimea.
This attack killed and injured people and caused problems with water and power supply. Due to the attack, private and multi-apartment buildings were damaged and the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant temporarily lost its connection to one of the feeding lines. In addition, the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Station was heavily damaged.
On March 25, 2024, two hypersonic “Zyrkon” missiles were launched from Crimea to attack Kyiv. Ten people were injured in the attack. The first use of such type of missiles fired from the occupied Crimea to attack Kyiv was recorded on February 7, 2024. Underground cables in one of the city districts were damaged due to this hit.
On the night of May 7–8, 2024, Russians carried out a new combined attack with 55 missiles and 21 “Shahed” drones that targeted infrastructure in the Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
In Zaporizhzhia, they hit critical and civilian infrastructure facilities, damaging a fire station. There were no casualties in the city.
Fourteen residential buildings have been destroyed or damaged as a result of this attack on the Kyiv Oblast and two people have been injured.
Russia attacked three thermal power plants (TPP) owned by the DTEK, the largest private energy company in Ukraine, causing serious damage. DTEK noted that this is already the fifth large-scale attack on the company’s energy facilities in the last month and a half.
The Russians hit DTEK TPPs during large-scale attacks on 22 and 29 March, as well as 11 and 27 April.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, DTEK thermal power plants have been attacked approximately 180 times. During this time, 51 workers were injured at the stations and three power engineers were killed,” the energy company reported.
Russian Armed Forces also hit Odesa with ballistic missiles on the evening of May 1, resulting in 13 casualties, according to Oleh Kiper, the Head of Odesa Oblast Military Administration.
The press service of the Ukrainian private logistics company, Nova Poshta, has reported that a Russian missile hit a Nova Poshta sorting depot and department. No one was killed or injured among the staff.
Commenting on Russia’s attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that only a Nazi would commit such a crime on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy“On Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II Day, Nazi Putin launched a massive missile attack on Ukraine. The entire world must understand who is who. The world must not give a chance to new Nazism,” he said.
By way of background, the Russian Federation uses temporarily occupied Crimea as a military foothold for its military aggression from the south of Ukraine, shelling Ukrainian cities from the peninsula. Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stated the importance of de-occupying the Crimean Peninsula.
Due to combined Russian Armed Forces attacks, the coalition of human rights organisations, “Ukraine. 5 a.m.” appealed to partner countries to intensify their actions for providing air defense systems that should protect civilians and objects under the protection of international humanitarian law.
