The testimonies of recently evacuated civilians from Bakhmut revealed that Ukrainian forces targeted civilians and took children during the ‘Battle for Bakhmut’.

A view shows destroyed buildings in Artyomovsk. ©  Sputnik / Ivan Rodionov

Since Russia began its military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, Western media and the authorities in Kiev have bombarded the world with accusations of “war crimes,” including kidnapping children and targeting civilians. 

But the testimonies of recently evacuated civilians from Artyomovsk (also known as Bakhmut) – like those of civilians in Mariupol and other areas – once again suggest Ukraine is guilty of the very war crimes its officials level at Russia. 

In late April, survivors of Ukrainian bombing in Artyomovsk spoke to myself and my colleague Christelle Néant about the horror they had endured on April 11, when Kiev’s forces blew up the ground floor of their apartment building, burying the civilians sheltering in the basement below. Seven of the seventeen civilians in that basement died almost immediately, including a seven-year-old child. 

From the hospital where he was being treated for a broken hip, a man named Sergey said Ukrainian forces, “or rather, [World War Two-era Nazi collaborator Stepan] Bandera’s army,” blew up the building deliberately. “On April 10, they started throwing grenades into every room. We could hear the grenades rolling around.” 

He said the soldiers had used a blowtorch to weaken the infrastructural pipes and ensure floor slabs would collapse when the explosions occurred. His wife and his mother were killed. His six year old son, Kolya, just barely survived. 

Néant also met and interviewed another of the survivors, Yulia, who just two days prior to the explosion had given birth. By some miracle, her newborn survived. Néant and I later interviewed Vladimir, the father of Sergey’s wife. He described finding his daughter with her skull cracked open. Unable to help her, he dug for his grandson and found him pinned down by debris, wheezing, but alive, and was able to free him. 

Horrific as the days leading up to April 11 were, they weren’t the first time Kiev’s troops had subjected the local population to terror. According to all those we spoke with, Ukrainian forces had been shelling their area since February 2022. 

“We were shelled every day by the [radical far-right organization] Right Sector and Azov,” Sergey said. Two others in the same basement, Evegny and Lyubov, said Ukrainian forces had for one month routinely fired on the apartments, “to weaken the walls, so that they could be easily destroyed one day.” 

Iran has joined the tiny club of nations with hypersonic missiles after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi unveiled the new Iranian-made ‘Fattah’ (literally, ‘Conqueror’) hypersonic missile in Tehran.

Read more

6 Responses

  1. I just got $30,850 from my last month of work doing this online part time. e3 I joined 4 months ago and I know how easy it is to get paid for this job. Register now via the website below.

    Click on Here…………… http://prowork12.blogspot.com

  2. Just work online and earn money. He now makes over $500 a day by working from home. I made $19,517 last month just doing this online job 2 hours a day. so easy and no special skills required…(n25) You can run google and then make this work.More information can be found here……
    .
    .
    Here►——————➤ https://Creatdoller.blogspot.Com

  3. Finally, my paycheck is $ 8,500 A working 10 hours per week online. My brother’s friend had an average of 12K for several months, he work about 22 hours a week. I can not believe how easy it is, once I try to do so. This is what I do….
    🙂 AND GOOD LUCK.:)

    HERE====)> hignearningdoller.com

  4. It was not Ukraine that fired on civilians, and took kids hostage! It was AshkeNAZI’s, and Khazarian mafia forces. Attention to detail folks! Attention to detail!

  5. Working part-time, I bring home almost $13,000 per month. I was keen to find out after hearing several others describe how much money they were able to make online. Well, it all came to pass and completely altered my ba-07 life. Now, everyone needs to try this work by using this website.
    .
    .
    Detail Are Here——————————————————>>> GOOGLE WORK

  6. Working part-time, I bring home almost $13,000 per month. I was keen to find out after hearing several others describe how much money they were able to make online. Well, it all came to pass and completely altered my ba-08 life. Now, everyone needs to try this work by using this website.
    .
    .
    Detail Are Here——————————————————>>> https://iplogger.cn/456y6

Leave a Reply