Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On Friday April 15th 2022, an alleged Russian missile strike hit the Sarhyn Yar neighborhood and the Shevchenkivskyi district in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, killing between 7 and 10 civilians, including a seven month old, and injuring between 34 and 50 civilians, including up to nine children.
Sources are not consistent regarding the number of civilians harmed by the attack. The majority of them, including Ukrainska Pravda, Inforesist, and Suspilne Kharkiv account for 10 civilians being killed, Kharkiv Today reported 9, while KHPG-inform and Kharkiv Today, among others, report either 7 or 8.
On the other hand, majority of the sources report, 42 injured civilians, including Kharkiv Times, KHPG-inform, and Suspilne Kharkiv, but the same sources also report lower numbers such as 34 or 35.This discrepancy in reporting can be justified by the number of victim rising after the initial reports after the attack, as explained by Ukrainska Pravda. Focus News, quoting Maksim Khautov, Director of the Public Health Department of the OVA, accounted for 50 civilians being injured, including 33 adults and nine children.
Natalya Popova, adviser to the head of the Kharkiv regional council, added that doctors were fighting for the lives of two children. A Facebook post by Yuriy Shevchenko identified a 7 year old child as sustaining a serious wound to their leg.
Reports from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group and the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union both quote Suspilne Kharkiv reporting the declarations of Maksym Khoustov, Director of the Health Department of KHOVA, and Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, accounting for 42 injured and 10 killed civilians.
Almost all sources, including Inforesist, Kharkiv Times, and Vgorode, identified one of the victims as a seven-month-old infant and between three to nine children injured.
In addition, the prosecutor’s office of the Kharkiv region initiated a pre-trial investigation for premeditated murder related to the event, as reported by Kharkiv prosecutor’s office telegram channel.
Objektiv.TV stated that the attack in the KhTZ area of Kharkiv took place around 16:16, when emergency services were dispatched, hitting a residential area and a playground. In addition, Suspilne Kharkiv stated that the attack in the Industrial district of Kharkiv took place at about 16:30, damaging and destroying several residential buildings with Uragan multiple rocket launchers, as also mentioned by the Kharkiv prosecutor’s office telegram channel. KHPG-inform added that a dental polyclinic was hit with shelling in addition to residential areas.
The suspected attacker is alleged to be Russia, as reported by most of the sources including Truexanewsua, Suspilne Kharkiv, and Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s telegram channel, although responsibility has been contested by Kharkov Nash telegram channel, a Ukrainian channel based in Kharkiv, claiming that Russian troops near Kharkiv are using different weapons than those used in the attack, saying they would not use “grads” but “tornadoes”, due to the range of attack of the first ones being too small.
The incident has reference to ACLED code UKR55820 and Bellingcat code CIV0798.
The incident occured at approximately 4:16 pm local time.
Summary
Sources (33) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (24) [ collapse]
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One of the shells used in an alleged Russian attack on the Industrialny district on April 15, 2022. (Image posted by Truexa News UA via Telegram)
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Rescue services respond to injuries from an alleged Russian attack on the Industrialny district on April 15, 2022. (Image posted by Truexa News UA via Telegram)
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Damage caused by an alleged Russian attack on the Industrialny district on April 15, 2022. (Image posted by @InfoResist)
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Fire caused by an alleged Russian attack on the Industrialny district on April 15, 2022. (Image posted by InfoResist News)
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One of the shells used in an alleged Russian attack on the Industrialny district on April 15, 2022. (Image posted by InfoResist News)
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Damage caused by an alleged Russian attack on the Industrialny district on April 15, 2022. (Image posted by Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office via Telegram)
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Rescue services respond to injuries from an alleged Russian attack on the Industrialny district on April 15, 2022. (Photo: Vasyl Golosny, Kharkiv Today)
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Screenshot of Facebook post by Kharkiv Today
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Photo: Telegram | The shelling of the KhTZ area occurred around 16:00 (Image posted by Focus News)
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
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Screenshot of Facebook post by Yuriy Shevchenko
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Screenshot of Facebook post by Maria Mezentseva
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Damage caused by an alleged Russian attack on the Industrialny district on April 15, 2022. (Image posted by Damage caused by an alleged Russian attack on the Industrialny district on April 15, 2022. (Image posted by Maria Mezentseva via Facebook)
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Screenshot of Facebook post by Serhiy Petrov
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Screenshot of Facebook post by Dmitriy Marzoni
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Screenshot of Facebook post by Kharkovskie Izvestiya
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Consequences of shelling of KhTZ, April 15, photo: t.me/tipichnoe_xtz
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A dental clinic on KhTZ destroyed by shelling, April 15, photo: t.me/tipichnoe_xtz
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the KhTZ area (XT3), for which the generic coordinates are: 49.945490, 36.374397. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.