Two weeks after Russia invaded UkraineIn February, Russian forces attacked a nursing home located in Luhansk’s eastern region. Dozens upon dozens of elderly and disabled people, many of whom were bedridden, were kept inside, without electricity or water.
The fire spread through the facility on March 11, suffocating everyone who could not move. A few staff members and patients managed to escape the facility and ran into nearby forests. After walking approximately 5km (3 miles), they were finally rescued.
In a war that has seen atrocities everywhere, the cruelty displayed by the attackers on the nursing home in the vicinity of Stara Krasnyanka stands out. The Ukrainian authorities blamed Russia for the massacre of more than 50 civilians.
A new UN report found that the Ukrainian armed forces are responsible for much of what happened in Stara Krasnyanka. It is located approximately 580 km (360 miles) southeast Kyiv. Just a few days before the attack, Ukrainian soldiers occupied the nursing home and made it a target.
According to the authorities, 22 out of the 71 victims survived the attack, although the exact number of those who died remains unknown. United Nations.
The UN’s Office of the Human Rights High Commissioner doesn’t conclusively state that the Russian soldiers or Ukrainian soldiers committed war crimes. However, it stated that the battle at Stara Krasnyanka Nursing Home is representative of concerns by the UN Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights over possible use of human protections to hinder military operations in certain locations.
The aftermath to the Stara-Krosnyanka house attack also offers a glimpse into Russia’s relationship with the West. UkraineEven though the war fog may be obscuring the story, it is important to quickly set the narrative of events on the ground. To ensure that billions of dollars of humanitarian aid and military assistance from the West continue to flow to Ukraine, it is important for Ukraine to maintain its upper hand in the battle for hearts and minds.
Russia’s frequent indiscriminate bombing of hospitals, schools, theaters, and apartment buildings has led to thousands of civilian deaths. UkraineThe United States and its allies, including Russia, have condemned Moscow’s actions and demanded that those responsible be held accountable.
However, Ukraine must also adhere to the Internationalrules of the battlefield David Crane, an ex-official of the Defence Department and a veteran from many wars. InternationalAccording to war crime investigations, the Ukrainian forces could have violated laws of armed conflicts by failing to evacuate the nursing home’s residents or staff.
The bottom-line rule: civilians cannot be intentionally targeted. Period. Crane did not give any reason. They put them in a dangerous situation. That’s impossible.
The Associated Press, and Frontline of PBS, have independently documented hundreds more attacks on Ukraine that are likely to be war crimes. Russia appears to be responsible for the majority of the attacks. A few, such as the destruction of Stara Krasnyanka’s care home, suggest that the Russians were also responsible.
Stara Krasnyanka’s nursing home was the subject of the first media reports. These were largely based on statements made by Ukrainian officials over a week after fighting had ended.
Serhiy Hadidai, Luhansk’s governor, stated in a Telegram posting on March 20, that 56 people had been murdered by Russian occupiers. They shot from close range with a tank and had cynically declared it. Iryna Venediktova (the office of Ukraine’s general prosecutor) stated in a statement that 56 people had died from the treacherous actions taken by the Russian forces and their allied. In neither statement was it mentioned that Ukrainian soldiers had entered the residence before the fighting began.
Haidai is the head of the Luhansk region administration. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office, the AP was informed Friday by Haidai that the Luhansk division is continuing to investigate Russia’s indiscriminate bombardment and forced transfer of people from the nursing home. According to the office, 50 patients were injured in the attack. This was less than what it had stated in March. The U.N.’s report was not answered by the prosecutor general’s office, but it said the office is also investigating whether there were any Ukrainian troops in the home.
Moscow-backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine’s industrial heartland, Donbas. The Donbas includes the Luhansk-Donetsk regions. Two independent republics were declared by them, which Russia recognized just before the war started. These separatist fighters fell under Russian command after the invasion.
Viktoria Serdyukova (the human rights commissioner of the Luhansk separatist state government) stated in a March 23rd statement that the Ukrainian troops had caused the deaths at the nursing home. She said that the Ukrainian militants had taken hostages many residents and set fire to their bodies as they fled.
The U.N. reported on violations of InternationalHuman rights laws that have been violated in Ukraine since Russia invaded it on February 24. Two paragraphs on the Stara Krasnyanka incident are contained in the 38 page report. This brief section, although it is short, provides an independent and comprehensive examination of the incident.
Stara Krasnyanka is based on eyewitness reports from staff who survived and information given by relatives of residents. A U.N. official was not allowed to speak publicly, and spoke under anonymity. According to the official, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights continues to document the case. The question of how many people were killed, and their identities, is just one of the many remaining.
According to the U.N report, as the U.S. reported, active hostilities began to draw near to the care house at the start of March, the management demanded repeatedly that the local authorities evacuate the residents. The report stated that Ukrainian forces were believed have mined the region and blocked roads. But, evacuation was impossible. The home was built on a hill, and it is close to a major highway. This made it strategically important.
According to U.N., Ukrainian soldiers entered the nursing house on March 7. Two days later, they engaged with the Moscow supported separatists in an exchange firefight. It is unclear who opened fire first. The first exchange resulted in no injuries to staff or residents.
On March 11, 71 people and 15 employees remained in the house without electricity or water access. The report stated that the Luhansk separatists, also known as Russian-affiliated Armed Groups by the U.N, attacked the home with heavy weapons on March 11.
According to U.N., the fire spread to the care house while fighting was ongoing. Unspecified numbers of patients and staff fled from the home and ran into nearby forests. They were finally met by separatist fighters who offered them assistance.
A state-owned Russia-1 correspondent gained access to the war ravaged home following the battle. In April, he posted a Telegram video that accused the Ukrainian soldiers and their human shields of using old people to help them.
Nikolai Dolgachev, the correspondent, was accompanied to the building by a man identified by the video as a Luhansk separatist Soldier who goes by the name Wolf. The video shows the extensive damage that was done to the building from both the inside and the outside. A body can be seen lying on the ground. The AP confirmed that Dolgachev’s video of the care home was correct by comparing it with other photos and videos.
Dolgachev stated that Ukrainian troops installed a machine gun nest in the home and an anti-tank weapon. He is seen laying his hand on the antitank weapon in the rubble of the building. The Tor is an anti-tank weapon made by Russia.
Ian Williams, a military expert from the Center for Strategic and International Studies reviewed the video and stated that the weapon was an RK-3 Corsar portable anti-tank guided ballistic missile, built in Ukraine.
While each side may blame the other for the Stara Krasnyanka catastrophe, the sad reality is that much the war in Ukraine has been fought in urban areas. This increases the possibility of civilian casualties. When civilians are caught in the crossfire, it is almost inevitable that they will suffer injuries and die.
In this conflict, the Russians are the bad guys. Crane stated that this is quite clear. “But everyone is accountable to law and laws of war.
(Only the headline, picture and text of this report could have been modified by Business Standard staff. The rest of the content is generated from a syndicated feed.
