UN mission on Zaporizhzhia attack: Glide bombs become one of greatest threats to civilians
This is said in a report issued by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), Ukrinform reports.
It is noted that 13 civilians were killed, and 110 injured, when two aerial bombs struck an industrial facility in the southern city. This marks the largest number of casualties HRMMU has recorded since a residential building in Dnipro city was struck on 14 January 2023.
The Mission monitors visited the site of the Zaporizhzhia attack, documenting the damage and interviewing victims and witnesses.
They noted that the attack took place in the afternoon when many workers at the facility were leaving at the end of their shift. Many of the victims, both workers at the plant and passersby, were killed or injured in the street or on public transportation.
Mission chief Danielle Bell said aerial glide bombs have become one of the greatest threats to people in cities along the frontline. “They are also one of the main reasons why the number of killed and injured in 2024 increased by 30 per cent compared with 2023,” she added.
Latest HRMMU verified data reveals that at least 2,064 civilians were killed and 9,089 injured in 2024.
The HRMMU explained that the increase in the number of civilian casualties from aerial bombs in 2024 is the result of modifications that allow these weapons to glide instead of falling, thus extending their range to include cities further from the frontline such as Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.
The Mission documented civilian casualties from such glide bombs for the first time in Kharkiv city in early 2024, in Sumy city and region that August, and in Zaporizhzhia city the following month.
The HRMMU specified that since 22 September, aerial glide bombs have killed at least 35 civilians and injured 308 in Zaporizhzhia city, accounting for 78 per cent of casualties there.
As reported by Ukrinform, on Wednesday at 15:40, the Russian army dropped a FAB-500 on the Shevchenkivskyi district of Zaporizhzhia. 13 people were killed. About 60 people remain in hospitals, 11 in intensive care units.
