Incident Code
Incident Date
Location
Geolocation
Geolocation
Airwars Assessment
(Previous Incident Code: RUK0205)
Four civilians, including a child, were killed and two injured, a woman and her six month old daughter, in an alleged Russian military personnel attack near Staryi Saltiv on a 15 vehicle convoy which had been evacuating the then Russian occupied city of Vovchansk on May 4, 2022.
Investigators arrived at the scene two days after the attack and launched a pre-trial investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war combined with intentional murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine). When conducted by the Chuguyiv District Police, they found six of the cars in the convoy had been damaged and four unrecognisable burnt corpses.
The Victims Memorial provided the details of a young girl aged 13 who was killed instantly in the attack. She was evacuating with her mother and six-month old sister who were both severely injured in the attack and taken to Vokhansk hospital. The family had travelled to Vovchansk with the belief that it would be safer in the case of a Russian invasion however soon had to evacuate due to clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces. Details of the three further civilians killed in this attack are unknown at the time of writing.
Images posted on the telegram channels of prokuratura_kharkiv and pgo_gov_ua detail the damage caused to four of the vehicles. One five door car was burnt and destroyed beyond recognition with additional damage to the front; another was also burnt but with less severity; a black BMW had visible gunshot entry damage to the front windscreen and vehicle left, both visible tires were flat; another car had heavy damage to the bottom front and gunshots to the driver’s side of the front windscreen. 300 meters from the cars a damaged Russian tank was also found abandoned, through 150 meters from this the charred bodies of two men in Russian military uniforms were also found.
This assessment has reference to ACLED code UKR57183.
Victims
Family members (3)
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention vehicles struck in the vicinity of the town of Staryi Saltiv (Старий Салтів). Analysing audio-visual material from sources, we have narrowed the location down to the following exact coordinates: 50.099884, 36.775080.
Tagged visual material from sources
Imagery: Prokuratura_kharkiv
Tagged visual material from sources
Imagery: Prokuratura_kharkiv
Tagged visual material from sources
Imagery: Prokuratura_kharkiv
Tagged visual material from sources
Imagery: Prokuratura_kharkiv