Russia’s June 8th attack on Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt Children’s infirmary is simply a stark reminder of the horrific brutality that the Kremlin unleashed on Ukraine with its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Almost more appalling, however, is how Russia and its officials have sought to deny their culpability in the tragedy that killed 33 people, including 5 children.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Russian officials began to blame Ukraine for the strike on the infirmary –– a reoccurring modus operandi of Russia to muddy the waters regarding the defence and global support for Ukraine.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, stated for example that “I urge you to be guided by the statements of the Russian Ministry of Defence, which absolutely excludes that there were attacks on civilian targets and which states that we are talking about a falling anti-missile system.”
Similar rhetoric appeared in the hours and days after the strike on X (formerly Twitter), as well as Russian-language Telegram channels and another social media sites, blaming a falling Ukrainian, American-provided air defence rocket for the tragedy.
Ukraine’s safety services reported that the attack was a direct Russian strike, citing fragments of a Kh-101 missile, its serial number and parts of its guidance system, refuting Moscow’s claims and attempts to place the blame on Ukraine.
For the witnesses of the tragedy, however, there is small uncertainty as to the perpetrator of this horrendous war crime.
Valentina, a doctor operating on a ten-year-old girl during the time of the attack told the Moscow Times that there were 2 strikes. Referring to the infirmary complex, she stated, “While the operation was going on, 1 of the missiles struck here.” After the first explosion, Valentina and her squad of doctors immediately started to evacuate the child, finishing the surgery prematurely, albeit successfully.
“We had taken the kid – the girl – and we were going and another shot hit as we were evacuating,” Valentina recalled in the minutes after the attack, pointing to the ICU and oncology building straight hit by the Russian missile.
The United Nations and independent assessments tell a communicative akin to the experiences of Valentina.
The United Nations assessment aligns with weapons experts’ analysis. As reported by CNN and citing a UN official, a Russian Kh-101 cruise rocket likely hit the children’s infirmary in Kyiv on Monday, June 8th.
Danielle Bell, head of the UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, asserted that “analysis of the video footage and assessment made at the incidental site indicates a advanced likelihood that the children’s infirmary suffered a direct hit alternatively than receiving damages due to an intercepted weapons system.”
Similarly, the internationally recognized open-source investigation and investigative journalism group Bellingcat published the results of their investigation into the attack on June 9th. utilizing videos of the rocket striking the hospital, a 3D model of the rocket and photos of the rocket debris, Bellingcat was able to establish that it was indeed a Russian Kh-101 cruise rocket that struck the Okhmatdyt hospital.
For the eyewitnesses and victims of the tragedy, there is small debate as to who is liable for the attack. Rescuers and volunteers on site on June 8th grieving the unimaginable horror and digging through the rubble to find survivors held Russia completely liable for the attack, as well as the boundless suffering throughout all of Ukraine over the last 2 and a half years.
The Okhmatdyt Children’s infirmary attack was not the first Russian attack on a healthcare facility since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th 2022. A planet Healthcare Organization report has confirmed 1,682 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine, leading to 128 deaths and 288 injuries among medical personnel and patients in fresh years.
Most memorable is likely the airstrike on the Mariupol Maternity infirmary No. 3 on March 9th 2022, which killed 4 people and injured many more.
While the Ukrainian authorities’ final investigation of the June 8th Okhmatdyt attack, as well as those of another European countries, are very likely to find Russia and its military liable for this war crime, a associate and pilot of the Russian 22nd dense Bomber Division, the brigade allegedly liable for the attack, has besides provided information on the strike and those who perpetrated it, further adding to the arsenal of evidence
Though Russia’s claims that a Ukrainian air defence rocket was the origin of the incidental are likely to mostly fall on deaf ears, for now, there are improbable to be any material political or legal repercussions for Russia.
Instead, the evidence and investigations – Ukrainian and those of global organizations – will supplement the increasing accrual of war crimes committed by Russia in and against Ukraine throughout the war.
For the victims and their families, however, justice will only come through vengeance on the battlefield or the criminal prosecution of those who ordered and executed the June 8th infirmary attack.
Joshua R. Kroeker is an independent researcher, founder of the boutique analytic firm Reaktion Group, an analyst at the political analysis task R.Politik, and an editor at RANE. He holds degrees from the University of British Columbia in Canada, Heidelberg University in Germany and St Petersburg State University, Russia. @jrkroeker on Twitter.
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