(Previous Incident Code: RUK0071)

A child was reported killed as a result of shrapnel wounds from an alleged Russian shelling of the city of Chuhuiv on March 14th, 2022.

According to local sources Suspilne Kharkiv and Rodenko Oleksandr via Facebook, shell fragments from artillery fired at a kindergarten resulted in the death of a teenage boy. Police also reported the death of the young boy and stated that “the total number of casualties is being established”.

Though the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, cited by Comments.ua, identified the victim as a 15-year-old boy, police described the victim as 16-years old.

The head of the SIU of the SSMP in the Kharkiv region, Sergey Bolvinov, cited by Objectiv, reported that the shelling of Chuhuiv damaged the kindergarten, three multi-storey buildings and two private houses. Ukrainska pravda reported that a hospital, yards, parks, and markets were shelled in addition to the kindergarten and residential houses.

The Office of the General Prosecutor reported via Facebook that, under the procedural supervision of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the investigators of the SBU Special Forces initiated an ongoing pre-trial investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder (Part 2 Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

All sources alleged Russian responsibility for the strike, with a tweet from @ArtyomShegeda specifying that a “grad” missile was used.

The police, cited by Ukrainska pravda, stated that investigative and operational teams were gathering physical evidence from the sites of all the bombings to further document Russian crimes.

This assessment has reference to ACLED code UKR53324.