Kiev Missile Strike Kills Donetsk Civilians, Russia Falsely Blamed

by Stephen Lendman

On Monday, Kiev forces willfully targeted Donetsk civilians, killing at least 20, injuring over two dozen more.

The Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) protects civilians in times of war.

Hague Regulations and Geneva's Common Article 3 cover principles of distinction and proportionality:

They include:

Distinction between combatants and military targets v. civilians and non-military ones. 

Attacking noncombatants are war crimes.

Use of disproportionate, indiscriminate force likely to cause damage to or loss of lives and objects is strictly forbidden.

Parties to a conflict must take all precautions to avoid and minimize incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, and damage to non-military sites. 

Civilians must be given "effective advance warning" of attacks in and around areas where they're located. 

"(N)eutralized zones" must be available to protect them as much as possible.

Use of civilians or combatants as human shields is banned.

By any standard under international law, the strike by a Kiev-launched Tochka-U missile — carrying banned cluster munitions — was a war crime. 

Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned it as follows, saying:

"At 11:30 am on March 14, Ukrainian forces (targeted) a residential neighborhood in Donetsk."

The Tochka-U tactical missile's warhead carried banned cluster munitions. 

The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) bans production use, transfer, and stockpiling of these terror weapons that scatter submunition bomblets over a wide area.

Brightly colored, children mistake cluster bomblets for toys. 

Picking them up risks serious injury or death.

US-dominated NATO regimes and Israel notoriously use these and other banned weapons in their preemptive wars of aggression.

When fired by artillery, rockets, and missiles, or air-dropped by warplanes, they open when airborne, dispersing multiple submunitions (bomblets) over a wide area.

Acting like landmines, they remain dangerous for years unless professionally destroyed.

Although the Donetsk air defense intercepted Kiev's missile over its territory, downing it on the city of Donetsk "killed 20 and seriously wounded 28 people, including children, women and seniors," Russia's Foreign Ministry explained, adding:

DPR leadership called what happened "an act of terror."

"Such strikes are sanctioned by the (US-installed Kiev regime) at the highest level." 

"We strongly condemn this atrocity…"

"It confirms again that the nationalist government of Ukraine intends to continue waging war on the civilians of the DPR and the LPR, as it has already been doing with its punitive operation in Donbass for the last eight years."

With full support and encouragement of US and complicit NATO regimes, aggression by Kiev has been ongoing since April 2014.

Since Russia's special military operation began on Feb. 24, Kiev forces "launch(ed) missiles at completely innocent people…" 

"We are clearly witnessing the death throes of (illegitimately installed) Ukrainian authorities."

"We are confident that this crime against humanity (and many others like by Kiev's Nazi-infested regime) will not go unpunished."

Commenting on the incident, Ukraine's war ministry turned truth on its head as follows, saying:

"You have already seen such information that a missile or other ammunition fell in Donetsk."

"(T)his is definitely a Russian missile or some other ammunition (sic). 

What the ministry falsely called "Russian propaganda" about the above incident and what's gone on for the last 8 years is indisputable truth and full disclosure of reality on the ground in Donbass.

On Monday, Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin explained that if the Tochka-U wasn't downed in flight, "it would have caused a lot more casualties."

The NYT largely buried the incident amidst a tsunami of fake news on Russia's special military operation.

Saying "(i)t was not immediately clear where the missile was fired from" was a bald-faced Big Lie — typical of Times misreporting time and again.

The same goes for turning truth on its head by falsely accusing Russia of "fir(ing) cluster munitions" since its operation began.

No evidence was cited because none exists.

Other MSM reported similar misinformation about Kiev's Monday war crime, including by falsely implying Russian responsibility for what it had nothing to do with.

Buried in a report on the ongoing conflict, WaPo failed to lay blame where it belongs on what happened in Donetsk Monday, saying only the following:

"Graphic videos and photos published on social media Monday from the Russian-controlled city (of Donetsk) show the remnants of a missile, burned buildings and the dead and injured lying on the streets (sic)."

Whitewash defines the above statement.

The same goes for London's Guardian on Kiev's Monday terror attack on Donetsk civilians, saying:

The Russian claim about the incident cannot "be independently verified (sic)" — ignoring accounts by eyewitnesses on the ground.

Ignored as well is Russia's support for long-suffering Donbass residents and the precision accuracy of its weapons to strike targets aimed at.

Russia's military clearly had nothing to do with the Monday incident.

Kiev and complicit US/NATO regimes bear full responsibility.

So do MSM for supporting Kiev's coup d'etat regime, its 8 years of aggression on Donbass, and countless crimes of war, against humanity and other atrocities committed against its people.

A Final Comment

US-installed UN secretary general finds new ways to disgrace himself.

On Monday, the longtime imperial tool turned truth on its head by falsely accusing Russian forces of attacking 24 healthcare facilities in Ukraine and destroying vital infrastructure.

He lied accusing Russia of "decimat(ing) (Ukraine) before the eyes of the world (sic)."

He lied claiming that (nonexistent) Russian attacks on civilians "reach(ed) terrifying proportions (sic)."

He lied saying that roads, airports, schools, hospitals and other residential buildings lie in ruins because of Russia's operation.

A further litany of bald-faced Big Lies followed as ordered by his higher power in Washington.

For 8 years, he ignored Kiev's aggression on Donbass.

For him, the US-dominated West, and their MSM press agents, massacring around 14,000 Donbass residents is a non-issue about non-people (sic).

So is the suffering of its four million people (sic).