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Feb 27 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Bellingcat has identified multiple examples of cluster munitions being fired into civilian areas of Ukraine, including residential areas, schools and hospitals.

bellingcat.com/news/2022/02/2…
Cluster munitions deploy a large number of smaller sub-munitions over a target, which then spread out and cover an area in explosions. They are often described as an indiscriminate weapon due to the inherently large area they affect.
In Ukraine we have seen examples of cargo rockets used by BM 27 & BM 30 multiple launch rocket systems. These cargo rockets carry the submunitions.

When they hit the ground, the cargo warheads and rocket motors can give an indication of the direction of origin of the rocket.
Over the first few days of the Russian invasion, we have seen multiple examples of their use in areas across Ukraine, including Bucha, Okhtyra, Vvedenka & Trostyanets.

We have also seen multiple examples of their use in civilian areas of Kharkiv.

This includes a cluster munition strike which impacted immediately next to the Kharkiv regional children’s hospital on the north side of Kharkiv.

The direction of origin of these strikes indicate the point of origin was to the north, from Russia and areas currently controlled by Russia.
In a particularly egregious incident, a kindergarten in Okhtyrka appears to have been impacted by a cluster munition, with the cargo warhead landing about 200 metres away.
We continue to collect examples of cluster munition use in the following thread:

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More from @bellingcat

Bellingcat Profile picture
Feb 28
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ongoing, it’s easy to forget about the dubious provocations designed to implicate Ukrainian forces before war began

Bellingcat asked a forensic pathologist & explosives expert to analyse one particularly concerning claim bellingcat.com/news/2022/02/2…
According to reports in Russian and separatist media, an IED was said to have detonated on a highway in the DPR, impacting two vehicles - a van and a car on February 22. 
The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin ordered an official investigation into the event. sledcomrf.ru/news/503279-pr…
Read 14 tweets
Bellingcat Profile picture
Feb 27
The Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map is a crowdsourced effort by @Cen4infoRes and the wider open source community to map, document and verify significant incidents during the conflict in Ukraine.

@BenDoBrown explains how it works bellingcat.com/news/2022/02/2…
@Cen4infoRes @BenDoBrown Given the sheer volume of content being posted online, Bellingcat (and others) will be helping verify and map incidents. The map itself can be accessed here: maphub.net/Cen4infoRes/ru…
@Cen4infoRes @BenDoBrown The map is publicly viewable on both desktop and mobile and, as of 24 February, had logged more than 570 items to give an up to date, detailed view of what is happening in Ukraine.
Read 4 tweets
Bellingcat Profile picture
Feb 26
We are seeking images of Uragan 9M27K and Smerch 9M55K cluster rocket and their submunitions from the current fighting in Ukraine, as well as videos of suspected cluster munition attacks. If you have any, reply with a link to the source if possible.
Currently geolocated videos and photographs related to cluster munition use. Bucha, 50.546169, 30.205566
49.987345, 36.261194
Read 17 tweets
Bellingcat Profile picture
Feb 25
The below video showing a cluster munition canister from a BM-30 rocket has been geolocated to 50.3086824, 34.8723472, in the town of Okhtyrka, Sumy. Notably we have also geolocated it just 200m to the east of the kindergarten that was reportedly attacked
Currently there is not enough information to establish if the two are linked, but the location of the canister remains, and that it appears to have landed from the direction of the school, suggests this Russian cluster munition may be connected to the kindergarten attack.
We continue to seek information about this attack, in particular the remains of munitions at the attack site itself, and any rocket motors from BM-30 rockets in the same town.
Read 4 tweets
Bellingcat Profile picture
Feb 24
If you're sharing videos and photographs from Ukraine with accountability in mind, please make an effort to share them with links to the source you're using, it greatly assists organisations who are verifying conflict incidents.
Wherever possible we're seeking to find where videos were posted originally, so we can understand the context they were originally posted in, and it helps us eliminate videos that are just old videos being reposted for clicks.
It also allows us to examine associated metadata, especially where videos have been shared on Telegram, which retains file metadata, unlike the majority of social media platforms.
Read 7 tweets
Bellingcat Profile picture
Feb 24
This video showing damage to civilian apartment buildings was filmed at 49.850727, 36.659762 in Chuhuiv, near an airport that was the likely target of the attack. Civilian casualties have been reported from the attack attributed to Russian forces.
One of the reported victims of the attack is shown below. We'll continue to collect evidence related to this attack on civilians:
More images from this attack via AFP, at least one death reported.
Read 4 tweets

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