Kyiv, Ukraine
Reuters
Fresh Russian shelling killed at least three people including an elderly man in a village garage and a woman beside a city bus stop, Ukrainian officials said, as President Volodymr Zelenskiy reported “intense battles” at dozens of frontline locations.
“Russian occupiers once again shelled Kherson,” Zelenskiy said, referring to the southern, port city on the west bank of the Dnipro River, abandoned by Russian forces late last year but now regularly shelled from the river’s eastern bank.
Debris is scattered along a street after shelling in a residential block in Kherson, Ukraine, in this screengrab taken from a video released on 3rd December, 2023. PICTURE: Kherson Regional State Administration/Handout via Reuters
He said the most severe of the frontline battles were in the eastern towns of Maryinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut, but also reported heavy fighting in Kharkiv region and in the south.
“Brutal” shelling rained down on “buildings, streets, our hospitals” in Kherson, he said, and offered condolences to families of those killed, noting Kherson region alone had suffered 20 shelling incidents in one day.
In the east, the prosecutor general’s office said a 69-year-old woman was killed on the spot and a 70-year-old woman suffered gunshot wounds in the town of Kostyantynivka.
A 64-year-old man suffered a penetrating injury from shelling while in his own garden in Avdiivka, site of some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks.
In the south, shelling in the village of Sadove killed a 78-year-old man in a private garage, Kherson city’s military administration said, adding, “He died on the spot from the explosive injury.”
In Kherson city, an image shared by Ukrainian officials on the Telegram messaging app showed a blurred image of a woman in a mauve coat in fetal position on the ground with her back to the camera, two shopping bags strewn near her head.
Roman Mrochko, head of Kherson city’s military administration posted a video of a multi-storey building with shattered windows, internal damage and debris on the ground.
The video included brief interviews with women inside the damaged apartments as well as blurred images of the woman who was killed at the bus stop.
“There was a very strong explosion,” one woman said, weeping as she surveyed damage to a bedroom. “It roared. I never heard anything like this in my life.”
Reuters confirmed the location of the video as Kherson city by matching signs and building positions and shapes to file and satellite imagery of the area, but was unable to confirm its date.
Kherson regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said the shelling there also lightly or moderately injured three women aged 35, 42 and 52 and two men aged 28 and 46.
Prokudin said Russian shells also damaged the facades of two nearby hospital buildings, but added that there were no casualties.
Members of Ukraine’s National Guard Omega Special Purpose unit fire a mortar toward Russian troops in the front line town of Avdiivka, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 8, 2023. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via REUTERS
Meanwhile, Kyiv officials accused Moscow of committing a war crime after a grainy video on social media appeared to show several soldiers shooting two surrendering military personnel who emerged from a dugout at gunpoint.
The unverified video shows one soldier coming out of a foxhole on the battlefield with his hands up and then lying on the ground. A second soldier stumbles out and also lies down. The Russian troops then appear to open fire and the video ends.
The Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office said: “The video shows a group of people in Russian uniforms shooting, at point-blank range, two unarmed servicemen in the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who were surrendering.”
Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity, date or location of the video clip. The Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia denies committing war crimes during its 21-month-old war in Ukraine. Kyiv says Russia regularly violates the rules of war.
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“The execution of those who surrender is a war crime!” Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said late on Saturday on the Telegram messaging platform.
“Today, a video of the execution by Russian servicemen of Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered as prisoners appeared online. This is another violation of the Geneva Conventions and disrespect for international humanitarian law.”
Deepstate, a popular Ukrainian war blog which posted the video clip, said the footage was filmed near Stepove on the Avdiivka front line in Donetsk region.
The General Prosecutor’s Office said the incident took place in Pokrovsk district, a large area of the Donetsk region that runs close to Avdiivka, site of some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks.
Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Tavria military command, told the Ukrainska Pravda news website that the video was “glaring confirmation” that Russia violates the rules of warfare on a daily basis.
In March, a Ukrainian sniper was seen being shot dead in a video after defiantly saying “Glory to Ukraine,” or “Slava Ukraini,” a phrase that has taken on special significance as a common public greeting since the start of the war.
– With MARIA STARKOVA in Lviv and LIDIA KELLY in Melbourne, Australia
