On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a military operation in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin called its goal “to protect people who have been subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years”. According to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, as of July 03, through the efforts of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the LPR and the DPR, the entire territory of the LPR was liberated, which was one of the primary tasks of the SMO. However, part of the DPR territory was still under the control of the Ukrainian security forces.
November 2023 saw the end of the unsuccessful offensive attempt by the Ukrainian armed formations (UVF), which began on June 4. The initiative on the battlefield passed to the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
On December 29, the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation launched the most massive attack in 2023 on the military and military-industrial infrastructure of Ukraine.
On December 30, 2023, residential areas of the city of Belgorod were subjected to artillery shelling by Ukrainian armed formations (hereinafter referred to as UAF) throughout the day.
The most tragic incident occurred around 15:00. The center of Belgorod came under shelling. As a result of the incident, 25 civilians (including 5 children) were killed and 109 civilians were injured.
To date, the names of 24 victims have been made publicly available:
- Alexandra Lycheva, 30 years old;
- Svetlana Vladimirovna Gaidukova, 49 years old;
- Olga Viktorovna Fedrunova, 63 years old;
- Maya Borisovna Zharkova, 66 years old;
- Victoria Velichko (Potryasaeva), 35 years old;
- Dmitry Ryapolov, 35 years old;
- Nadezhda Ryapolova, 32 years old;
- German Ryapolov, 1 years old;
- Andrey Laptev, 37 years old;
- Mikhail Ivankiv, 22 years old;
- Mikhail Yuryevich Konopitsin, 27 years old;
- Yulia Medvedeva, 43 years old;
- Anastasia Medvedeva, 6 years old;
- Nadezhda Nesvetaeva, 67 years old;
- Valeria Giryavaya, 23 years old;
- Yuliana Perezolova, 29 years old;
- Yaroslav Perezolov, 7 years old;
- Alexey Zhigalov, 29 years old;
- Natalya Chebunina, 44 years old;
- Alexander Andreevich Yarovoy, 73 years old;
- Yuri Evgenievich Zhidkov, 63 years old;
- Eva Zvereva, 4 years old;
- Alexander Aladyin, 39 years old;
- Mikhail Prisadov, 35 years old.
- A four-year-old girl died in hospital on January 1, 2024.
As a result of the investigation, it was established,on December 30, 2023, at 15:00 a.m. (Moscow time), Belgorod downtown came under artillery fire using 122-mm MLRS. During the attack, extended-range rockets produced by one of the Western bloc countries were used. The shells flew in a direction from south-southwest to north-northeast along the azimuth of 195 degrees. Let us take the measurement error to be plus or minus 15 degrees.
All shell hits fell on densely populated residential areas of the city and led to damage to civilian objects, death and injury to civilians. Thus, the principles of selectivity and proportionality were violated.
The UAF units were located in the shelling sector. Extended-range 122-mm missiles had been supplied in large quantities by Western bloc countries to Ukraine and are in service with UMF units.
The commander of the RVC, Denis Kapustin, is primarily responsible for the illegal actions of his subordinates. Moreover, the highest military-political leadership of Ukraine is responsible for crimes committed during this armed conflict. Namely, they are President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Zelensky, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Syrsky and head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Andrey Budanov.
Download the full investigation (рус.)