DISINFO: Apartment building in Dnipro was destroyed by Ukrainian air defense
SUMMARY
The Russian army did not strike any residential buildings, while the Ukrainian side also said that the collapse of the apartment building in Dnipro on Saturday was the result of an anti-aircraft missile strike. The Russian armed forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure. Strikes are carried out against military targets, whether obvious or camouflaged.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation claim trying to deflect responsibility for strikes on civilian infrastructure by Russia.
On 14 January 2023 a Russian cruise missile struck a nine-storey apartment building killing at least 44 people and injuring another 75, with 40 people reported missing, by 17 January (the death toll may rise as the as rescue workers continued to sift through the mountain of concrete).
Russia has been systematically attacking civilian targets throughout its war of aggression against Ukraine.
Although initially Ukrainian presidential adviser said it appeared that the Russian missile had fallen on the building after it was shot down by Ukrainian air defence, he later retracted the statement and said he made a fundamental error.
Ukraine said the building was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which it does not have the capability to shoot down.
This strike became the most destructive Russian attack on a residential building in Ukraine in the last six months. The core of that building is now gone, transformed into a mountain of jumbled concrete. Apartments were sliced in half when the missile – with a warhead of nearly one metric ton – penetrated all the way to the basement.
Russian strike on a civilian residential building has been widely condemned. EU High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell called Russian strike inhumane aggression directly targeting civilians. The UN Secretary-General condemned the strike, saying it was “another example of a suspected violation of the laws of war.”
The claim that Russia is only striking military targets have been debunked many times. The Russian military regularly bomb civilian infrastructure and residential areas to weaken Ukraine’s resolve and terrorize its population. UN have recorded at least 18,358 civilian casualties since the latest armed conflict began on 24 February, including 7,031 killed and 11,327 injured. However, the exact figures are likely to be much higher as ongoing hostilities have hindered the authorities’ ability to verify possible cases in many parts of the country.
Most of the civilian casualties are from airstrikes and explosive weapons used by Russian forces with wide area effects, including heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems. As a result, hundreds of residential buildings in many cities, including Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mariupol and Kyiv have been damaged and destroyed.
See the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.