Heavy Russian Shelling of Nikopol, Kramatorsk Claims at Least 14 Lives

The city of Nikopol Dnipropetrovsk Region, has been  a constant object of attack by Russian troops over the last two weeks.

Nikopol is a city of regional significance in Ukraine. There are two metallurgical plants and several machine-building plants in the city. There are no military facilities in Nikopol, so the target of shelling is the city’s residents.

According to the center of strategic communications, there were 120 strikes on Nikopol on August 11. At least three people died as a result of shelling and nine were injured, including a 13-year-old child. Over 40 high-rise buildings, three schools, shops, garages, and cars were damaged. More than 6,000 people were left without electricity.

The city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk Region. was hit by S 300 missiles, which damaged at least three private houses. Avdiivka, Bakhmut and Kamianka, as well as other towns and villages, also came under fire, resulting in the deaths of 11 people in Donetsk Region.

Russian forces continue to try and capture all of Donetsk Region. Every day the Ukrainian army repels attacks on the Avdiivka and Bakhmut fronts.

According to the central command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian occupying forces burned down entire squares, so it was inevitable there would be victims among civilians. The Ukrainian authorities announced the mandatory evacuation of civilians from the Donetsk Region two weeks ago.

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Officially Russia refuses to respect the rights of civilians. In 2019, the Russian Federation de facto withdrew from the Geneva Convention on the Protection of the Civilian Population during International Armed Conflicts.

This was Moscow’s response to the fact that the UN officially recognized Russia’s violation of the Geneva Conventions in connection with the resettlement of people from the Russian Federation to Ukraine’s Crimea to change the demographic make-up of the occupied peninsula.

This means that Russia does not recognize the jurisdiction of the UN special commission to perform the role of a judicial body investigating violations. It is unclear whether the UN will be able to judge Russia for violating the rights of civilians during war.

However, experts believe that even countries that have not ratified the law will be prosecuted for violating the International Court of Justice law since war crimes do not cease to be crimes on the basis of whether or not a country is a signatory.

The Convention on the Protection of Civilians in Wartime was adopted in Geneva on August 12, 1949. For the first time in the entire history of mankind, it established the rules of treatment of civilians and their special status.

Civilians cannot be deliberately attacked. They have to be protected until they take direct part in hostilities. Robbery, rape, and torture, which Russian forces have been committing in Ukraine, are all prohibited by this convention.