Russian Missiles Hit Ukraine From Black Sea As U.S. Accuses Moscow Of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’
On February 18, Russia continued its missile and drone attacks against Ukrainian military and civilian targets, while top US officials accused Moscow of “crimes against humanity” in the war and said Russian forces had suffered 200,000 casualties as the conflict neared its one-year anniversary.
At least two civilians were injured and windows of several houses were shattered in the western Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi on February 18 when Russia fired missiles from the Black Sea, Ukrainian authorities said.
At the same time, US Vice President Kamala Harris told the Munich Security Conference that the United States had concluded that Russia had committed “crimes against humanity” in its unprovoked war against Ukraine, with its forces carrying out “large-scale and systemic” attacks. against civilians in the country.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken also said in Munich that US experts calculated that Russia had suffered about 200,000 killed or wounded in the war and that more than 1 million Russians “have left their country because they don’t want to be part of this war and the direction the country is going .”
“Look at what happened, what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin did to his own country,” Blinken added.
Battlefield claims, including casualties on both sides, have been difficult to verify in a war that began with a Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
On February 18, Ukraine’s air force said its air defenses shot down two of four Kalibr missiles fired by Russia from the Black Sea.
According to Oleksandr Symchyshyn, the mayor of Khmelnytskyi, two explosions were heard in the city, which lies 274 kilometers west of the capital Kyiv.
“There are three damaged educational institutions and about 10 damaged block of flats. About 500 windows and balconies were destroyed,” he told Ukrainian national television.
Ukraine’s state nuclear company said on February 18 that two Russian cruise missiles flew close to a southern Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
Damaged Russian tanks are seen near Vuhledar after an attempted attack on the town earlier this month.
The Russian military launched 41 missile attacks on Ukraine on the night of February 16, and Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 16 missiles, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said.
Russia has launched repeated waves of strikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, particularly its energy facilities, since early October, leaving millions without electricity, heating and water supplies at times during the cold winter.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on February 18 that its forces captured Hryanykivka, a village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, following an offensive attack. The claim cannot be independently verified.
The body of a soldier without insignia but believed to be Russian lies on a road near Kharkiv on the first day of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The Ukrainian General Staff said in a briefing earlier that Hrianykivka was being shelled, but did not mention the Russian attack.
Much of the discussion at the Munich Security Conference focused on the war in Ukraine and talks about possible increased Western aid to Kyiv.
In her comments, Harris accused Russian forces of “horrific acts of murder, torture, rape and deportation, execution-style killings, beatings and electrocutions.”
“I say to all those who committed these crimes and their superiors who participated in these crimes: You will be held accountable … Justice must be served,” Harris said.
