Alleged Russian shelling attacks on the village of Zolochiv in Kharkiv killed a woman and wounded two others, including a child, on March 17, 2022.

The village of Zolochiv endured heavy shelling, allegedly from Russian forces on March 17th. In the midst of the bombing, a 44 year old mother covered her four year daughter. While the daughter was wounded, her mother was killed. The girl’s father was also wounded. Twitter users @KHARKIV_RULIT, @EmineDzheppar, and @f_o_r_Ukraine provided images of the wounded girl and her home post-shelling.

A more detailed account was posted by the Kharkiv Times at Times.kharkiv.ua. The report included a description of the strike provided by Viktor Kovalenko to Suspilne Media: “The shell came when she and her child were sleeping in the house by the window. The woman covered her 4-year-old daughter with her body, but she herself did not survive. The child has a leg injury. There was also a man there – he also had an injury. The doctors rendered assistance to the injured in the hospital – they pulled out the fragments, made bandages. Their house is partially destroyed.”

Kovalenko was described as “the head of the community” in the report.  Kovalenko also noted that the alleged Russian artillery began shelling the village around 2 am and continued until roughly 4 am. There were about 15 explosions in total. Seven private houses, electricity and gas networks were damaged.

In a story posted by Objectiv.tv, the forty-four year old mother shielded her daughter from death and lost her life in the process. The article went on to say that, “a pre-trial investigation has been launched into violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder (part 2 of article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).” This description of an impending investigation was corroborated by a Facebook post from Prokuratura Kharkiv.

This assessment has reference to ACLED code UKR53712.