Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RUK059

Incident date

March 15, 2022

Location

Золочів, Zolochiv, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Geolocation

50.273048, 35.977971 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Five civilians, including two women and a 19 year old boy, were killed and three others were injured in alleged Russian shelling of the village of Zolochiv on March 15, 2022.

Zolochiv village head Viktor Kovalenko told Suspilne News “Unfortunately, we have five dead – a 70-year-old grandmother, a 34-year-old woman, a 19-year-old boy and two men under the age of 40. The projectile hit the house, and all these people lived in the neighborhood and went out to put out the fire. At that time, it flew to the place where they were standing, and the explosion killed them all. Three more men who were standing nearby were injured. They were given first aid. We will send the two victims, who are in serious condition, to the Bohodukhov hospital.”

The Office of the Prosecutor General announced on Facebook that they would be investigating the civilian deaths based on “violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).”

In addition to damage to a home, Zolochiv village head Viktor told Suspilne News that an agricultural enterprise was damaged and shells hit the gardens in the Makarivka micro-district. The Office of the Prosecutor General added that a number of residential buildings and a car were destroyed and damaged in the shelling.

According to Suspilne News, the town of Zolochiv was shelled by one and a half dozen shells from a Uragan rocket systems from Kozacha Lopan. Gx.net.ua specified that the shelling was from Russian troops.

This assessment has reference to ACLED code UKR53458.

The incident occured at 13:30:00 local time.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Agriculture
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5
  • (2 women3 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    3
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected attacker
    Russian Military

Sources (20) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]

  • Damage to a home caused by alleged Russian shelling of the village of Zolochiv on March 15, 2022. (Image posted by Suspilne News)
  • Damage to a home caused by alleged Russian shelling of the village of Zolochiv on March 15, 2022. (Image posted by Gx.net.ua)
  • Screenshot of Facebook post by Solonytsivskyy.visnyk
  • Screenshot of Facebook post by Office of the Prosecutor General

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Zolochiv (Золочів), for which the generic coordinates are: 50.273048, 35.977971. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Agriculture
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5
  • (2 women3 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    3
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected attacker
    Russian Military

Sources (20) [ collapse]