The Russian occupiers are using methods that violate the rules of war. They attack civilian infrastructure, killing and injuring civilians, including children, and make actions that can have regional and international consequences. We have prepared an update of such actions of the occupiers as of the morning of March 23.

From February 24 to March 23, the Russian occupiers in Ukraine killed 121 children and injured 167 children. Such data were provided by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine.

Kyiv and Kyiv region

The Russian occupiers fire daily at Kyiv's civilian infrastructure with aircraft, missiles and artillery. In the afternoon of March 22, Russian troops fired at the residential area in the Obolon district of the Ukrainian capital from the Multiple Launch Rocket System Smerch. As a result, a fire broke out in two apartment buildings. According to the Kyiv City Civil-Military Administration, 1 person was killed and 3 were injured.

Later, the Russian occupiers fired on residential buildings and a shopping centre in the Sviatoshynskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts of Kyiv. According to the Kyiv City Civil-Military Administration, 4 people were injured.

The Russian occupiers are using weapons banned by the Geneva Convention in Ukraine. On March 22, the mayor of Irpin reported that Russian aircraft had dropped phosphorous bombs over Irpin and Gostomel.

The Russian occupiers are committing crimes against the civilian population in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova said that in one of the villages of Brovary district, the Russian serviceman killed the unarmed owner of a house. After that, he and his colleague repeatedly raped the wife of the murdered man, threatening her and her child with weapons.

The Russian occupiers are contributing to a humanitarian catastrophe in the settlements of the Kyiv region. They block any supplies to the satellite city of the Chornobyl NPP Slavutych, the towns and villages of the Dymer, Ivankiv and Poliska communities. This was reported by the Kyiv Region Civil-Military Administration.

Also, Russian troops are destroying the infrastructure that provides the population with critical goods. Serhiy Kolomiets, co-owner of Vegi Trend Invest and Well Meat Invest, said that the Russian occupiers had destroyed food warehouses in the Brovary district of the Kyiv region with artillery fire. This threatens the food security of the entire region and Kyiv. Also, the member of the board of directors of the pharmacological company Farmak Petro Chernyshov reported that Russian troops had destroyed a drug warehouse near Makariv, the Kyiv region. Raw materials and other materials for the production of medicines worth over 1.5 billion UAH were lost.

Chernihiv region

The Russian occupiers attack Chernihiv's civilian infrastructure daily with aircraft, missiles and artillery. On the night of March 22-23, the Russian plane dropped bombs on the bridge over the Desna River, cutting off Chernihiv from the main highway to Kyiv. This was reported by the head of the Chernihiv Regional Civil-Military Administration Vyacheslav Chaus.

According to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmyla Denisova, the Russian occupiers are trying to create the same conditions in Chernihiv as in Mariupol. The city has been without electricity, water and heating for several weeks. Due to the constant shelling of Russian troops, public utilities are unable to repair networks, and rescuers are unable to respond to all emergencies. There are almost no humanitarian aid channels left in Chernihiv, as Russian troops are blocking all major entrances to the city.

Sumy region

Russian troops terrorize the population in the temporarily occupied territories of the Sumy region. This was reported by the head of the Sumy Regional Military-Civil Administration Dmytro Zhyvytskyi. According to him, in Trostyanets, the Russian occupiers shot the woman who was riding a bicycle. There is no possibility to bury the dead people in the city. Women give birth at home because it is not possible to get to hospitals. The Russian occupiers also stole the last ambulance, so doctors are no longer able to travel to Trostyanets.

Dmytro Zhyvytskyi also said that the Russian occupiers were terrorizing the residents of the Krasnopil community. The Russian troops go from house to house, take away mobile phones from all the people and rifles from local hunters, occupy schools, houses, and expel people out into the street. The invaders force people to go to Russia, but locals refuse under threat of execution.

Kharkiv region

The Russian occupiers fire daily at the civilian infrastructure of Kharkiv and some other cities in the Kharkiv region with artillery, missiles and aircraft. According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, on March 22, Russian troops fired on Kyivskyi, Osnovyanskyi, Industrialnyi and Moskovskyi districts of Kharkiv, as well as on settlements in Kharkiv and Izyum districts of the region.

Luhansk region

The Russian occupiers have been shelling Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Lysychansk, Popasna and Toshkivka with aircraft, missiles and artillery for several weeks. This was reported by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. In Severodonetsk, the Russian occupiers hit the children's hospital building. No one was injured, as staff and patients were evacuated.

Later, the head of the Luhansk Regional Civil-Military Administration, Serhiy Haidai, said that one person had been killed and six wounded in the shellings in Severodonetsk during the day. According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, rescuers are unable to respond to all calls in the Luhansk region due to frequent shellings.

Donetsk region 

On March 22, representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic captured an evacuation convoy from Mariupol that was moving through a previously agreed humanitarian corridor. Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk reported that captured people were the workers of the State Emergency Service, the Red Cross took part in the organization of the “green corridor”. The Ukrainian side currently does everything possible to free the hostages up. Russian terrorists claim that they will confiscate the buses, and will think about whether to release people or not. Meanwhile, more than 100 thousand civilians in Mariupol are waiting for the evacuation, but do not have such possibility because of the brutal actions of Russian armed forces. 

On March 22, Petro Andrushchenko, Deputy Mayor of Mariupol reported that Russian armed forces purposely planned the humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol. In the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion, local government with the help of large retail chains made a huge food reserves in advance. The food would have been enough for months, not even weeks. The reserves were placed in the storage space of the enterprise “Komunalnyk”, and was guarded by the territorial defense. However, the next day, Russian occupiers intentionally destroyed the food reserves with the artillery systems. 400 thousand residents of Mariupol remained without the daily bread under the Russian seige. 

Mykolaiv region 

On March 22, Russian military troops shelled a gas station in Mykolaiv. According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, 3 civilians were killed and 1 woman was injured. A fire broke out as a result of the shelling, the area of the fire was 10 square kilometers.