DISINFO: The nature of the destruction of the house in Dnepropetrovsk suggests it was not a missile
SUMMARY
During large-scale hostilities, civilians often die. But [Russia] is not to blame for this. Those who provoked this conflict are to blame. Any normal decent person understands that [Russia] did not shoot at a residential building. If only because it makes no sense from a military point of view and the missile costs a lot of money. It makes no sense to spend it on non-military purposes. It seems, by the extent of the destruction, that the missile could not have caused this. Well, it would have destroyed one apartment there.
On the Ukrainian Internet, there is a version that this was an explosion. This is a provocation aimed at blaming Russia. One has already heard more than once about the dirty bomb, which everyone has already forgotten about, chemical weapons.
RESPONSE
On 14 January 2023 a Russian cruise missile struck a nine-story apartment building overlooking a park near the river, killing at least 44 people and injuring another 75, with 40 people reported missing, by 17 January (the death toll is rising as rescue workers continue to sift through the mountain of concrete).
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.
On 16 January, the Security Service of Ukraine announced that it had identified the Russian military involved in the missile attack. Criminal proceedings were opened against them under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war). Six soldiers, whose data was published by the SBU, are from the 52nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment. This regiment is deployed in the village of Shaikovka in the Kaluga region.
After inspecting the site of the tragedy, the type of Russian cruise missile - Kh-22, which the enemy used to hit the residential building, has been preliminarily confirmed. After relevant examinations, the individuals involved will be notified of suspicion of committing a particularly serious crime against Ukraine, says SBU.
On the available video recordings, no interception of any missile is seen or heard, and only one explosion is heard - when it hits the building, says the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT).
The version that there was no missile at all is a conspiracy.
On 24 February 2022 Russia started an unprovoked full scale invasion of Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin disinformation media pretend that Russia does not conduct a war in Ukraine, only a "special military operation" and that NATO is to blame for the Ukrainian "crisis".
Since 2 March 2022, the ICC is conducting an investigation into war crimes committed in Ukraine.
See other disinformation narratives on the "staged" massacre in Bucha, Ukrainian provocations against Russia, dirty bomb. Pro-Kremlin media pretended that Ukraine was developing a dirty bomb to use it and blame Russia but IAEA did not find any evidence of that.