“Targeting military and foreign officers": how Russia justifies the killing of children in Kryvyi Rih

Every day, Russia commits war crimes in Ukraine and traditionally denies all accusations, trying to avoid responsibility. To do this, Russia has a whole propaganda system in place. It tries to distort the truth about this brutal war, about bloody attacks on civilians, and spreads the Kremlin's narratives around the world.

At a time when truce negotiations are underway in the Black Sea, Russia is firing cluster munition rockets at children's playgrounds. The Kremlin authorities continue to exert moral pressure on Ukrainians, making them fear for their most precious possessions - their children.

The ballistic shelling of a residential area of Kryvyi Rih on April 4 is a tragedy that shook the whole country. A Russian missile hit the yard, killing 20 civilians, including nine children who were playing on the playground. More than 70 people were injured. This is the most numerous crime committed by the Russian army against Ukrainian children killed in a single attack since the beginning of the invasion.

Horrifying images of a column of smoke in the middle of houses, parents mourning their dead children, and rescuers trying to resuscitate a three-year-old boy immediately appeared on social media.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that it had achieved its military objective, but denied that the ballistic missile had hit a residential neighborhood in Kryvyi Rih. Propaganda quickly spread fakes about a meeting of military and Western instructors in a local restaurant, and claimed that a rocket with an explosive warhead was used. The Kremlin authorities shifted the blame to Ukrainian air defense, then to the Kyiv authorities.

‍

‍

“The Russian Ministry of Defense has commented on the attack on Kryvyi Rih.
At 18:49, a high-precision missile with an explosive device struck the place of a meeting with communications commanders and Western instructors in a restaurant in Kryvyi Rih. As a result of the strike, the enemy's losses amounted to up to 85 servicemen and officers of foreign states, as well as up to 20 units of automotive equipment,“ the defense ministry's telegram channel said at 22:27.” (“Ukraine.ru”)

The propaganda media outlet Ukraine.ru, citing “independent Ukrainian media” and the Legitimate Telegram channel (which the SBU claimed was created by Russian special services), claimed that the report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had some nuances that should be noted. For example, the cluster munitions part. They claimed that the Russian authorities claimed to have used a missile with an explosive warhead, while the cluster warhead is made up of Ukrainian air defense missiles.

‍

‍

The hostile media outlet writes that Ukraine has not confirmed the deaths of the military, as claimed by the Russian Defense Ministry, and does not show the site of the strike, as the restaurant was destroyed to the ground. This allegedly confirms that “Bankova Street continues to use civilian objects for military purposes.”

Later, propaganda sources began to spread videos of the allegedly destroyed restaurant.

‍

‍

“Ruins and a crater: footage emerges after Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih”.

“Gazeta.ru, citing the Military Theme telegram channel, published footage of the rubble being cleared, allegedly at the site of the destroyed Magellan restaurant in Kryvyi Rih. The Russian publication writes that almost nothing remains of the building, and there is a huge crater in the center. “Under the rubble are dozens of dead foreign mercenaries, including high-ranking European officers.”

The online media outlet Pervyi Kryvyi Rih refuted this fake: “[...] But in fact, the video shows the Svyatoshyn restaurant-club destroyed by a Russian missile on March 14, which also did not contain military personnel and their equipment, as Russia claimed.”

The rest of the propaganda publications about the strike on Kryvyi Rih promoted the narrative that the shelling of the playground was a provocation. Here, the propagandists are clearly confusing provocation with compromise, otherwise, what would Ukrainian accusations be provoking Russia to do?

Russian propaganda complains that it is Ukraine that does not want peace, and therefore creates “provocations” against Russia. They say that the goal of the Kyiv authorities is to accuse Russia of war crimes and disrupt peace talks.

‍

‍

“The timing of the strike is noteworthy. Kyiv's unwillingness to negotiate has long been known, and the provocation that took place today is similar to what Kyiv did three years ago at the train station in Kramatorsk and in the Mariupol drama theater.”

‍

‍

“Ukraina.ru publishes more versions of the attack on Kryvyi Rih, built around conspiracy theories, where Russia is again portrayed as the victim.

‍

‍

“There are also conspiracy theories that the strike was not carried out by the Russian Armed Forces, but a staged attack. The second version is that the information was specially leaked to the Russians to set up a setup, because Bankova needed a tragedy to actualize the Ukrainian crisis,“ the publication said.” (“Ukraine.ru”).

‍

‍

“Two days before the incident, one of the leading Ukrainian media outlets published an article titled 'Russia is preparing for powerful strikes on Ukraine', where a Ukrainian expert spoke about Russia's desire to show Trump its cruelty and readiness for rage. Whatever this nonsense means, it was a warm-up to the tragedy.”

Suspilne Dnipro reported on the visit of the UN Human Rights Office to the site of the strike in Kryvyi Rih, where they interviewed witnesses and documented the extent of the destruction. Traces of hundreds of pieces of debris were found everywhere. The mission found out that there were no military personnel in the restaurant or in the area at the time of the Russian attack. On that day, the restaurant was hosting a forum for beauty professionals. The event was organized by a local business association. It was announced in advance on the Internet.

Quoting the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, Suspilne Dnipro in the same material notes: “...the manner and circumstances of the attack may indicate the indiscriminate nature of the attack, even if Russia had information about the presence of the military in the restaurant. Therefore, this attack can be qualified as a war crime”.

‍

‍

Later, video evidence was posted online that refuted Russian fakes about the presence of the military in the restaurant and the use of a rocket with high explosive equipment. The video from the RoseMarine (formerly Magellan) restaurant was published by the French media outlet France24.

“The Novynarnya outlet shared the video, which clearly shows that civilians, mostly women, are present in the restaurant, and there are no soldiers inside. There were no hits to the restaurant - the building was only smashed by debris.

‍

‍

"The bodies of the dead and wounded were located 20 meters from the playground and 70-110 meters from the RoseMarine restaurant, which was allegedly targeted by the Russians. Its building was damaged by the missile's striking elements, but was not destroyed,” Novynarnya adds, based on the geolocation analysis of photos and videos from the site of the attack by OSINT investigators, citing Dzerkalo Tyzhnia.

Russia proves every day through its terrorist actions that it wants to continue the war. In order to draw attention to Russian crimes and bring those responsible for the most massive killing of Ukrainian children during the full-scale invasion to justice, Ukraine initiated an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.

‍

‍

‍

We worked on the material:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Yana Yevmenova
Editorial director: Olga Kovaleva
Literary editor: Yulia Futey
Website manager: Vladyslav Kukhar