UN confirms that Russia attacked Hroza and all victims were civilians

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has confirmed that the missile attack on Hroza in Kharkiv Oblast on 5 October was launched by the Russian army, and all 59 victims were civilians.

Source: the Ukraine: Report into Hroza missile attack report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights through the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, posted on 31 October

Quote: "Today, we are publishing a report into the events of 5 October that concludes there are reasonable grounds to believe that the missile was launched by Russian armed forces, and that there was no indication of military personnel or any other legitimate military targets at or adjacent to the café at the time of the attack."

Details: The report is based on information collected and verified by representatives of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, who conducted two fact-finding missions in Hroza on 7 and 10 October. Experts examined the site of the explosion and interviewed 35 people, including residents, witnesses, two survivors, medical personnel and morgue employees.

A missile hit a café in the small village of Hroza in eastern Ukraine, killing 59 people attending a memorial dinner, on 5 October. It was one of the deadliest civilian incidents since February 2022.

Representatives found out that the killed – 36 women, 22 men and an 8-year-old boy – were civilians who came to the reception after the funeral and reburial of a resident, a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The explosion completely destroyed a café and a small shop.

Fifteen families lost two or more family members as a result of the missile attack.

Identification was based on DNA tests of the remains of the bodies in numerous instances, since it was otherwise impossible to establish the identities of the dead. One of the women could only be identified by her manicure.

Quote: "The Russian armed forces either failed to do everything feasible to verify that the target was a military objective, or deliberately targeted civilians or civilian objects. Either scenario would be in violation of international humanitarian law.

We urge the Russian Federation to conduct a full and transparent investigation to hold those responsible to account and to take measures to prevent similar attacks from happening in the future.

We also call on the Russian Federation to provide access to effective remedy, including appropriate reparations, for victims and families."

Background:

• On 5 October, the Russians attacked a cafe in the village of Hroza, Kupiansk district, Kharkiv Oblast, as a wake for a fallen soldier was taking place there.Law enforcement officers have identified all 59 people killed.
• The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has established the identities of two traitors who guided the Russian missile attack on a café in the village of Hroza in Kharkiv Oblast on 5 October.
• Russian forces may have struck the Hroza cafe thinking that Ukrainian soldiers were there, but those present were all civilians, the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office noted.
• Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian Federation’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said at a meeting of the Security Council on Monday 9 October that the funeral of a "high-ranking Ukrainian nationalist" was being held in the village of Hroza. Police refutes Russian UN representative's statement about "neo-nazis" in Russian-attacked Hroza

Read also: Young couple killed in Russian missile strike on Hroza: details of tragedy

"There's a child in the morgue. We don't know if it's ours." How the village of Hroza is coping after the mass killing, as it prepares for the victims' funerals

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