Missile event in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Stepove area, Ukraine on Mon 20th March 2023

The Russians fired from various types of weapons, damaging civilian and residential infrastructure in the regional centre, Pologivskyi and Vasylivskyi districts. As a result of the armed attack, three civilians were fatally wounded and two others were hospitalised.

The occupation forces launched rocket attacks on Zaporizhzhia, attacked Orikhiv, Charivne, Gulyaypolske and Zaliznychne from the air, and used UAVs to attack Gulyaypol and Olhivske. In addition to these settlements, the territories of the villages of Novoandriivka, Charivne, Mala Tokmachka, Malynivka, Novodanilivka, Novopavlivka, Bilohirya, Poltavka, Chervone, Preobrazhenka, Gulyaypilske, Plavni, Stepove, Mali Shcherbaki, and Kamianske were shelled with multiple rocket launchers and artillery. On 18 March, at around 3:15 a.m., a Russian missile hit a catering facility, destroying the building and the territory of the restaurant complex. The blast wave shattered windows in the surrounding buildings, damaging roofs and facades. Other rockets hit the territory of an industrial facility, destroying a production workshop. As a result of the inspection of the regional centre, police officers found and neutralised fragments of an S-300 missile in one of the districts.

For three days, the Russian military fired at the settlements of Polohiv and Vasyliv districts. Russian shells hit the houses of local residents, and fires broke out in some of them. As a result, property in the houses was destroyed, and outbuildings and cars parked in the yard were damaged. As a result of the three-day shelling, three residents of the village of Kamianske died - two men born in 1953 and 1985, and a woman born in 1987. Another 64-year-old local resident was hospitalised with multiple mine-blast injuries. A 44-year-old resident of Gulyaypol was also taken to a medical facility. While hiding from the shelling, the man sustained a shrapnel wound to the head on the territory of his own household.

Based on the results of the war crimes, police investigators and the Security Service of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia region opened criminal proceedings under Part 1, Part 2 of Article 438 (Violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.