Russia's deliberate attacks on civilian housing to create panic and war weariness are war crimes, and each day there are reports of Russian missile or artillery attacks on apartment buildings and housing in Ukraine. Today, the town of Chasiv Yar was hit by Russian rockets that targeted a housing complex. BBC reports:
"At least 15 people have been killed and about 20 more are feared buried under rubble after Russian rockets struck an apartment block in Chasiv Yar, a town in eastern Ukraine, officials say.
Five victims have been brought out alive. The death toll was given by a Ukrainian emergency services official.
One side of the five-storey building was ripped apart, leaving a mountain of rubble. Chasiv Yar is near the city of Kramatorsk, in Donetsk region.
Donetsk is the focus of a Russian push.
The region's governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the destruction was caused by Russian Uragan rockets." [snip]
Dozens of emergency workers are still searching for bodies beneath the piles of concrete and rubble in Chasiv Yar, assisted by a bulldozer and crane to lift slabs of concrete.
The entire side of one apartment block was destroyed. A neighbouring block was also badly damaged, with shattered glass, wood and concrete littering the floor. The emergency services were still looking for survivors under the rubble. They would occasionally halt their work to listen for any sounds." (our emphasis)
Russia's terrorism against civilians is hardly new for them: recently in Chechnya and Syria, the Russian forces used brutal attacks on civilian populations to wear their adversaries down. That's what the attack on the housing complex in Chasiv Yar was all about today, and all days.
UPDATE: The toll rises to 29.
(photo: Reuters)
