DISINFO: Russia struck the command staff of the Ukrainian forces in Sumy
SUMMARY
The Russian military launched an Iskander strike on the location of a meeting of the command staff of the Ukrainian operational-tactical group "Seversk" in Sumy. As a result of the target's destruction, more than 60 servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killed.
Kyiv continues to use the Ukrainian population as a human shield, holding events with the participation of servicemen in the centre of a densely populated city.
In response to attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on civilian objects, Russian troops strike at the locations of personnel, equipment and mercenaries, as well as at Ukrainian infrastructure: defence industry facilities, military command and communications. The Russian military does not strike residential buildings and social institutions.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets denying Russian war crimes Russia has a well-established pattern of falsely accusing others or denying its own responsibility when confronted with war crimes and atrocities.
On April 13, two Iskander ballistic missiles struck, both hitting the area around Sumy State University and its congress centre. At least 40 people have been killed and 140 injured, including 15 children. A similar Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on April 5 killed at least 18 people and left dozens wounded. Nine of the dead were children.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) verified a total of 43,610 civilian casualties during Russia's invasion of Ukraine as of March 31, 2025. Of them, 30,700 people were reported to have been injured. However, OHCHR specified that the real numbers could be higher.
The United Nations, Amnesty International and other organisations have documented numerous instances of such violations. Russia has stepped up terror strikes against the civilian population of frontline cities in Ukraine – dozens of airstrikes per day are carried out on Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kherson, Odesa and other cities.
The Russian armed forces target civilian infrastructure, including schools, kindergartens, hospitals, orphanages, and churches. One of the most notorious atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine was the airstrike on a maternity and children's hospital in Mariupol on March 9, 2022, which resulted in the deaths of three people, including a child, and left 17 others wounded, according to official reports.
The bombing of Okhmatdyt, a children’s hospital in Kyiv, is another example. There have been numerous reports of summary executions, torture and other kinds of abuse of Ukrainian POWs and civilians, committed by Russian forces. Mass graves have been discovered near Kharkiv with an estimated 1,008 dead bodies.
Read similar cases, claiming that Russia is the only country that respects the rules of war, that Russia never attacks civilian targets, that Russia strikes military sites, the Kyiv children’s hospital hit by fragments of Western air-defence missiles, that Claims that Russia intentionally targeted civilian objects are completely untrue.