Despite the statement of the Russian Ministry of Defense that they were targeting a restaurant with military personnel in Kryvyi Rih, the missile landed near a children's playground.
Military analyst Yan Matveev wrote about this, publishing a map with the location of the tragedy.
" Judging by the statement of the Ministry of Defense, they aimed at the restaurant "Magellan" (RoseMarine), where a meeting was supposedly taking place (according to the schedule, there was a beauty forum there). The missile did not hit there, the building is intact, at most damaged by the striking elements that flew in. Obviously, there are no 85 dead or wounded military personnel there. As well as 20 pieces of equipment. In one of the videos, a person is standing and filming just from the side of the restaurant and shows the epicenter of the explosion just to the side (marked on the plan) ," the analyst noted.
The strike killed 18 civilians, including 9 children.
" This is the price of Putin's appeasement. This is his willingness to negotiate peace and the desire for a truce. The Ministry of Defense directly admits to a war crime. Even if there were military personnel in the restaurant and the missile hit it, the essence would not have changed. Why? Because a missile with striking elements and such a spread would have killed people around. The use of such ammunition in the middle of a peaceful city is a war crime ," Matveyev wrote.
" They were fully aware that even if there were really NATO officers in the restaurant, the number of collateral casualties among civilians would have been in the dozens. The playground right next to the potential target, like the sign "Children" in Mariupol - for the Russians, it's just an argument that they definitely need to strike ," Ukrainian historian Andriy Plakhonin wrote on Facebook.
Earlier, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the Russians struck Kryvyi Rih with an Iskander-M ballistic missile with a cluster warhead .