Crystal Hearts

I always say: if you’re a civilian (aid worker, journalist, medic) anywhere near the pre-frontline areas, there’s a very high chance you’ll either witness a russian war crime or become a victim of one.

What happened that day, and what you hear in the previous video, is undoubtedly a war crime. Targeting civilians is a war crime on its own. On top of that, the sound you hear is from cluster munitions - their use in areas where civilians are present is inherently indiscriminate, which violates international humanitarian law and constitutes a war crime.

In the previous video, you can’t see what’s happening from the angle where I was standing, so I’ll share a video with you from someone who was on the other side a few min drive from us.

The attack started at 12:50pm. Part of our crew was inside a building, and the rest of us were outside. We waited a few minutes until it got quiet, then gathered everyone and got in the cars. 

By 1pm we started driving, and within a few minutes we reached the first civilian casualties - a woman walking down the street was killed instantly by shrapnel; a man, also dead, in front of his house; and another woman in distress from the shock wave of the explosions, who was taken away by medics. There was also a car that was hit by multiple fragments, but no one was inside at the time. 

That’s when we learned that russians hit the village by a Smerch cluster munition rocket launcher. The cluster bombs it carried sprayed shrapnel throughout the area. The pieces of shrapnel released from these munitions leave barely visible entry wounds but cause massive internal damage - so you can be walking down the street, get hit by one of these tiny fragments, and die instantly.

community builder /bright-moments, storyteller, AI enthusiast, activist, nonprofit founder /crystal-hearts @crystalhearts 🤍🇺🇦📍Ukraine

This is horrifying. As much as people want to see “happy” casts this is much more important. Thanks for documenting and please stay safe