Russia repeatedly strikes Ukraine’s civilians. There’s at all times an excuse.

Since late February, when Russia started pummeling Ukraine with missiles and artillery on a scale unseen in Europe for many years, civilian deaths have been as inevitable because the Russian excuses that observe.

Attacks have struck individuals in bread strains and on playgrounds, in addition to condo blocks, theaters and hospitals. After every one, Russia has denied or deflected accountability, usually accusing Ukraine of attacking its personal individuals to sway home and international opinion in opposition to Moscow.

Russia has claimed that it goals solely at targets of navy worth — despite the fact that some have been tons of of miles from the entrance strains — and that at any time when a civilian facility did get hit, it was one which the Ukrainian navy had co-opted to be used as a command submit, a shelter for overseas fighters or storage for weapons.

The Kremlin mantras have discovered resonance among the many Russian individuals, lots of whom are influenced by state-controlled tv networks and conservative pro-war on-line commentators who bolster the occasion strains.

Yet journalists, unbiased organizations and Ukrainian officers have documented Russian assaults on hundreds of civilian buildings, buildings and automobiles. In some instances, Russia used outdated weapons which may have been aimed toward an industrial facility however missed, placing civilians in danger. But in lots of different instances, the Russians’ explanations haven’t held up beneath scrutiny.

Here are a couple of of the biggest assaults, together with how Russia has defined away accountability.

JULY 1: Hotel and Residential Tower Near Odesa

Overnight missiles struck a resort; a whole part of a nine-story residential tower, the place greater than 100 individuals lived; and a leisure heart, killing at the least 21 and injuring dozens of others about 50 miles southwest of Odesa, based on Ukraine’s state emergency service.

Russia’s response: Russia was concentrating on ammunition and arms depots, vegetation that manufacture and restore navy tools, and locations the place “foreign mercenaries” and “nationalist elements” have been primarily based and skilled, mentioned Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson. “I would like to again remind you of the words of the president of the Russian Federation and commander in chief that the armed forces of the Russian Federation are not working against civilian targets in the course of the special military operation,” he mentioned, referring to President Vladimir Putin.

JUNE 27: Kremenchuk Shopping Mall

A daytime assault on a busy shopping center killed at the least 20 and injured dozens in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine. Ukrainian officers estimated that tons of of individuals might have been contained in the mall.

Russia’s response: Russia’s Defense Ministry mentioned it had struck Kremenchuk with what it described as “high-precision missiles.” Its goal, the ministry mentioned, had been an industrial facility subsequent to the mall that was serving as a weapons depot and that contained munitions for programs provided by the United States and European international locations. The ministry mentioned that the strike had subsequently brought about the saved munitions to blow up and that that had began a hearth on the mall.

Separately, Dmitry Polyanskiy, a deputy Russian ambassador to the United Nations, recommended on Twitter that the explosion had been brought on by Ukraine as a “provocation.”

APRIL 8: Kramatorsk Train Station

A rocket assault on a crowded practice station that was full of civilians making an attempt to flee to safer areas killed at the least 50 individuals and wounded many extra. The stays of the rocket, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine recognized as a Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile, had the phrases “for our children” written on it in Russian. It was unclear who had written the message.

Russia’s response: Russia denied any accountability, saying that it didn’t have Tochka-U missiles in its arsenal however that the Ukrainian forces had used such missiles. It later accused Ukraine of conducting the assault.

MARCH 16: Mariupol Theater

At least a dozen individuals — estimates of the toll differ as much as a number of hundred — died in Mariupol in an assault on a theater that folks had been utilizing as a bomb shelter, native officers mentioned. The phrase “children” was written in Russian in giant white letters on the bottom in entrance of and behind the constructing.

Russia’s response: Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, mentioned that Ukraine was making an attempt to border Russia and that it was “a lie” to say that Russia had bombed the theater, based on Reuters. “It is well known to everyone that the Russian armed forces do not bomb cities,” she mentioned. “No matter how many videos are doctored by NATO structures and how many video clips and photo fakes are pumped out, the truth will come out.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry denied finishing up the assault and accused the Azov regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard of blowing up the theater in “a bloody provocation.”

MARCH 16: Chernihiv Bread Line

At least 18 individuals have been killed and 26 have been injured when a munition struck a bread line outdoors a grocery store in Chernihiv, based on Human Rights Watch.

Russia’s response: Russia’s Defense Ministry denied accountability, saying that its forces weren’t current in Chernihiv on the time of the assault. The ministry mentioned that both “Ukrainian nationalists” had carried it out or that it had been staged by the Security Service of Ukraine.

MARCH 9: Mariupol Maternity Hospital

A missile strike in Mariupol hit a maternity hospital, which had already been working in dire situations. {A photograph} of a pregnant girl being carried via rubble turned one of many struggle’s enduring photos; the lady died days later.

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Russia’s response: Officials mentioned the hospital had been commandeered as a base by Ukrainian forces. Polyanskiy, Moscow’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, dismissed the accusations as “fake news.”

MARCH 3-30: Bucha Executions

The our bodies of dozens of individuals, lots of whom had apparently been executed, have been discovered scattered throughout Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, after Russian forces withdrew from the Ukrainian capital on the finish of March. A New York Times investigation discovered that Russian forces in Bucha had rounded up and executed a bunch of Ukrainian males March 4, immediately implicating these forces in a probable struggle crime. The Times additionally discovered video proof that Russian forces had fatally shot a civilian bicycle owner March 5.

Russia’s response: Russian leaders on the highest ranges repeatedly denied wrongdoing in Bucha, and so they described the photographs of useless civilians as a “provocation and fake.”

MARCH TO MAY, AND AGAIN IN JUNE: Kharkiv Shelling

A kindergarten classroom, a pub and a playground are among the many many scenes of devastation in Kharkiv, the place a relentless shelling marketing campaign continued for months. Hundreds of individuals have been killed and tons of of buildings destroyed after the Russians used artillery, rockets, cluster munitions and guided missiles in residential areas. Although the shelling briefly halted, it resumed in June.

Russia’s response: The Russian authorities denied concentrating on civilian amenities in Kharkiv and elsewhere, saying that Ukrainian troops and “neo-Nazis” had used locals as “human shields.”