Geolocation
Additional Geolocations
Airwars assessment
Up to eight people were killed and two others were wounded by alleged Russian or Ukrainian airstrikes/shelling of Svobody Street and Gorky Park in Kharkiv on March 14, 2022.
The head of the Kharkiv regional state administration, Oleg Sinegubov, reported on a car of Help Army volunteers: “A 26-year-old boy died from serious wounds and a woman was wounded. The number of casualties is being established. A total of 65 shots were recorded during the day.” Fakty.ua added that the injured woman was treated in the hospital to have shrapnel removed.
Another volunteer with Help Army wrote on her Facebook a memorial for the victims and identified them as brother and sister. The volunteer wrote “It seemed to be an ordinary volunteer day… We wanted to congratulate the volunteers, recorded a video greeting from the Muzbat guys. We managed to do a lot, but there were two parcels left for the soldiers. We are on our way. “Grad”! “Grads”! “Grads!”
Ukrainska Pravda quoted State Emergency Service of Kharkiv Oblast who reported that emergency teams rescued three people from under the rubble and found the bodies of seven dead under the rubble of houses.
Truexa News provided details that at least two people were killed by shelling of their home on Svoboda street, and one person who was in the basement survived. Anatoliy Torianyk, deputy head of the Main Department of Emergency Situations in Kharkiv region added that at the time there was information about up to three other people under the rubble and Nv.ua added that one person was injured in the same incident. These casualties were likely included in the total of (seven bodies) provided by the State Emergency Service.
Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office announced that they were investigating “violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder (Part 2 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)” related to the two civilians killed by shelling on Svobody Street in Kharkiv.
Focus News reported that Russian forces shelled Gorky Park of Culture and Recreation in Kharkiv, damaging several kiosks, creating craters in the ground, and landing near the roller coaster ride. Oleg Sinegubov described the shelling of central Kharkiv as “The occupants fired two rockets at the central part of Kharkiv in one day. They fired from the Smerch multiple rocket launcher in the area of Gorky Park, Sumskiy Market, and the intersection of Sumskaya and Dynamovskaya.” According to Focus News, Gorky Park is one of the largest entertainment centers in Europe.
Comments.Ua added that Russian airstrikes also struck a four-storey building in the city centre. Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group reported that on the ground floor of the house there were shops and catering establishments, and on the next level people lived.
Deputy head of the Main Department of Emergency Situations also reported that the shelling damaged a gas pipeline and rescue services blocked the gas leak.
While the majority of the sources attributed the airstrikes/shelling to Russian forces, a source which sometimes expresses Russian sympathies, Kharkov Nash, posted on Telegram that “it is quite possible that most of today’s “arrivals” are “internal arrivals” and that the shelling on Gagarin Street in the city center, Pushkinskaya Street, and Gorky Park were similar to Grad or Smerch rockets, and that Ukrainian artillery is concentrated close by. Kharkov Nash also stated that Russians had not hit Kharkiv with Iskanders yet.
This assessment has reference to ACLED code UKR53346.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes (2) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention a building struck on Svobody Street (вул.Свободи), and the Maxim Gorky Central Park for Culture and Recreation (Парк культури і відпочинку «Максим Горький») in the city of Kharkiv (Харків). Analysing audio-visual material from sources, we have narrowed the location of the Svobody Street strike down to the following exact coordinates: 50.003469, 36.237987. The generic coordinates for Gorky Park are: 50.019614, 36.245152. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.