Thursday, November 02, 2023

U.N. investigators say Russia conducted deadly Hroza strike


U.N. investigators have determined that Russian forces conducted the Oct. 5 strike that killed 59 people in the Ukrainian town of Hroza. 
Photo courtesy of Volodymyr Zelensky


Oct. 31 (UPI) -- United Nations investigators determined that Russian forces were responsible for the Oct. 5 strike on a funeral in the Ukrainian town of Hroza, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded there were "reasonable grounds" to believe the missile was launched by Russian armed forces and that there was "no indication of military personnel or any other legitimate military targets at or adjacent to the cafe at the time of the attack" that killed 59 people.

The OHCHR said the "Russian armed forces either failed to do everything feasible to verify that the target was a military objective, or deliberately targeted civilians or civilian objects."

"Either scenario would be in violation of international humanitarian law," the OHCHR said.


The OHCHR urged the Russian Federation to investigate the killings and to make reparations accessible to the victims and their families.

In its report on the strike, the OHCHR pointed out that a Russian diplomat had called the funeral a legitimate target.

"Military personnel deployed by the Kyiv regime at any given place will become a legitimate target of the Russian army," the diplomat said according to the OHCHR.

The investigation was conducted on-site by the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, who inspected the location and interviewed 35 individuals, including witnesses and medical staff.

In the aftermath of the strike, Ukrainian officials had to identify a number of the victims using DNA or objects that were found on their bodies.

Two residents, who collaborated with Russian occupation forces, were identified by Ukrainian security forces as having assisted the Russians in conducting the strike.

"The perpetrators were two local residents, 30-year-old Volodymyr Mamon and his younger brother, 23-year-old Dmytro Mamon, who during the occupation of the region went over to the side of the Rashists [derogatory word for Russian racists]," the SBU, Ukraine's internal security service, said.

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