DISINFO: Russia only attacks military facilities in Ukraine
SUMMARY
The Russian Federation has nothing to do with the strikes on the historic centre of Odesa, since the Russian army only attacks military facilities in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets denying that Russian troops deliberately strike civilian objects, and accusing Ukraine of targeting civilian infrastructure. This claim was made in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and specifically after strikes on Odesa that damaged the Transfiguration Cathedral.
There is enough evidence of Russia’s armed forces hitting civilian targets such as schools, kindergartens, churches, hospitals, shopping malls and similar civilian objects. On 14 January 2023, at least 40 people were killed and 76 were wounded in a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro when an apartment building was hit. According to a spokesman of Ukraine's Air Force Yuri Ihnat, a Russian Kh-22 missile hit the building. 72 flats were destroyed and more than 230 flats were damaged in the attack.
Three Russian missiles struck several civilian objects in Vinnytsia on 14 July 2022, killing at least 22 people, among them several children. Russian forces hit a hotel, a shopping mall and several other civilian objects in Mykolaiv on 14 July 2022 as well. A residential area was pounded in Kryvyi Rih on 9 July 2022. Russian forces also targeted a shopping mall in Kremenchuk on 28 June 2022.
Russian troops also committed atrocities in Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka and other towns and villages outside Kyiv in 2022, of which there is ample evidence. Russia's claims that video footage showing dead bodies on the streets of Bucha is staged have been fact-checked and debunked by the BBC, Bellingcat, The Atlantic Council, Mediazona, the Insider, Sky News, the New York Times and others.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Russia does not target civilian buildings, that Russian forces do not target civilian infrastructure, that Ukrainian strike on Crimean Bridge was a terrorist act against a civilian structure, that Kyiv attacks civilians while Russia tries to reconstruct cities, that Accusations of Russia "shelling the civilian infrastructure of Ukraine" are hypocrisy, that ‘Izyum atrocities’ staged by Ukraine through controlled media, or that Bucha massacre was orchestrated by Ukrainian forces.