Russian attack leaves at least 40 dead in Dnipro 3:44
(CNN Spanish) --
A recent Russian attack on an apartment complex in Dnipro, Ukraine, which left at least 45 dead, has once again turned the world's attention to the intense and deadly bombardments that have been carried out against civilians in Ukrainian cities since the beginning of the war.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, said Monday that the Russian attack was a "war crime" and vowed to bring its perpetrators to justice.
'I just hate them,' says Ukrainian, reacting shocked by latest deadly Russian attack
The bombardment with Russian cruise missiles - identified as Kh-22 by the Ukrainian authorities - occurred on Saturday in this city in central / eastern Ukraine and on the Dnieper river, the most important in the country.
It was not the first time that Dnipro was hit by Russian missiles.
The exposed interior of an apartment in the block in Dnpiro, Ukraine, on January 15.
(Yan Dobronosov)
Cities under constant bombardment
Nor was this the first time – and probably will not be the last – that attacks against civilian targets have occurred in Ukraine: Ukrainian cities have been hit by airstrikes, cruise and ballistic missiles, and even artillery.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported Monday that 7,000 civilians have died in the country since the start of the war on February 24, 2022.
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"Most of the recorded civilian casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects, including heavy artillery shelling, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and airstrikes," the OHCHR said.
Here are some of the most serious attacks against civilians in Ukraine so far.
The hospital in Mariupol
On March 9, 2022, a few days after the start of the war, Russian forces shelled a mother and child hospital in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
CNN investigation into Mariupol bombing denies Russian allegation 3:40
At that time, at least three deaths and 17 wounded, including children, women and doctors, were reported, and President Zelensky said that the bombing was "proof of genocide."
The image of a pregnant woman, wounded and being carried on a stretcher past the smoking remains of the hospital, marked one of the most high-profile atrocities of Russia's war, as she was carried away with her face pale, one hand holding her belly in a gesture of protection, while all the windows in the building had been blown out.
The massacre in Bucha
Russian troops occupied the outskirts of Kyiv a few days after the invasion began, but by April they began to withdraw from that area in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks.
In Bucha, northwest of the capital, Ukrainian soldiers found traces of a massacre against civilians, with dozens of bodies allegedly executed and later strewn on the streets.
CNN journalists even observed a mass grave in the city.
Experienced photojournalist, moved by Bucha 7:24
It is not clear how many civilians may have been massacred in Bucha.
According to OHCHR, at least 50 cases have been documented.
But the Ukrainian authorities speak of 458 bodies found in the city.
The mall in Kyiv
On March 21, 2022, a Russian attack on a shopping mall in the Podilskyi district of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, left at least eight people dead, according to the General Prosecutor of Ukraine.
The shopping center and cars in an adjacent parking lot caught fire after the shelling.
It was not the only attack of this type.
In June a busy shopping center in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, was attacked and the building caught fire.
Zelensky said up to 1,000 people were in the mall when it was hit by the missiles.
While Dmytro Lunin, head of the military administration of the Poltava region, said there had been at least 15 deaths.
Russian attack on shopping center in Kyiv leaves at least 8 dead 0:34
The energy infrastructure, in the spotlight
In October 2022, Russia turned its strategy in Ukraine around and began a bombing campaign against energy and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine with cruise missiles and attack drones of Iranian origin.
These attacks were particularly harmful for the civilian population after the arrival of winter, since entire cities were left without electricity to heat homes.
The campaign, however, continues.
Bombing hits Poland
A missile fell on November 15, 2022 on Polish territory on the border with Ukraine, killing two people on a farm.
It was the first time that civilians were hit outside Ukraine.
After a series of speculations, Poland and the United States pointed out that it would be an S-300 anti-aircraft missile fired by Ukraine and that fell on Polish land by mistake.