Russian strikes in Ukraine’s oblasts kill at least three and injure nine civilians on August 20

Russian strikes in Ukraine’s oblasts killed at least three and injured nine civilians on August 20.

The Russian Armed Forces carried out several attacks on the Donetsk Oblast on August 20, 2024, killing one civilian and injuring another four.

Anastasiia Miedviedieva, spokeswoman for the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, in a comment for Ukrainska Pravda, reported that Russians deployed what appears to have been an S-300 missile system to strike the city of Pokrovsk on the night of 19–20 August. According to her, a 61-year-old woman sustained head injuries and received treatment.

Around 13:30 Kyiv time, Russian forces attacked a private residential neighborhood in the village of Hrodivka in the Pokrovsk district, injuring two civilians, a man and a woman.

In the city of Kostiantynivka, Russian shelling killed a 41-year-old woman inside her home and injured a 64-year-old man. Several apartment blocks, a store, and a car were also damaged.

The Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office launched pre-trial investigations regarding violations of the laws and customs of war under Articles 438.1 and 438.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Additionally, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a projectile (type still being determined) landed near a retail kiosk in Malokaterynivka around 17:45 on August 20. Russians injured three children, aged 11, 14, and 17, as well as an 18-year-old woman in that attack. The police also reported that a boy, 15, died in a hospital from his injuries.

Kherson Regional Military Administration head Oleksandr Prokudin announced that Russian drone attacks on Tuesday resulted in one fatality and nine injuries, including three children.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyy, revealed that since 24 February 2022, Russian missiles and drones have hit 11,879 facilities in Ukraine, with 6,203 being civilian and 5,676 military, Expres Defense reports.

He added the Russians used 9,590 missiles and 13,997 drones to attack Ukraine; 2,429 missiles and 5,972 drones were shot down.

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, at least 219 civilians were killed and 1,018 injured in Ukraine in July 2024, which makes it the deadliest month for civilians since October 2022. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine stated that the high number of casualties in July continues a trend of increasing civilian casualties since March 2024.

The UN pointed out that a large-scale coordinated attack launched by the Russian Armed Forces across Ukraine on July 8, 2024, killed at least 43 civilians, including 5 children, and injured 147, including 7 children, in Kyiv City, Dnipro City, Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) and Kyiv region.

One missile in the 8 July attack also struck a hospital complex in Kyiv city, destroying the toxicology department of the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Hospital and significantly damaging the Center for Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

In June and July, the most intensive offensive military operations by the Russian Armed Forces shifted from the northern Kharkiv region to the Donetsk region, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine noted. As a result, verified civilian casualties in the Donetsk region increased from 125 civilians killed or injured in May to 224 in June and 269 in July 2024.

The vast majority of civilian casualties (90%) and damage to educational and health facilities (86%) continued to occur in Government-controlled territory.

As for now, it is impossible to determine the exact number of casualties, as Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and the representatives of the ICC have no access to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.