The short answer
On 15 April 2022, Russian forces fired cluster munitions into a residential area and playground in Kharkiv's Industrialnyi District, killing 9 civilians and wounding 35, an attack Amnesty International described as a possible war crime.
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Suggest coverage for April 2022 Kharkiv cluster bombingOn the afternoon of 15 April 2022, during the battle of Kharkiv as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Army fired a series of rocket strikes using 9N210/9N235 cluster munitions into the Industrialnyi District of Kharkiv. The strikes hit a residential area and a playground on Myru Street. People who were outside at the time fell to the ground in an attempt to shield themselves from the explosions.
The attack killed nine civilians and injured 35 more, including children. A local hospital treated wounded people who had pieces of steel rod and shrapnel embedded in their limbs. Among those killed was a mother who had been walking through the playground with her husband and their 4-year-old daughter when the munitions detonated; she died after shrapnel tore through her lungs, spine and abdomen. A 16-year-old boy also died in the attack, with a munition fragment leaving a 1-centimetre-wide hole in his chest. On nearby Haribaldi Street, two elderly women were killed at the entrance of their apartment building. In total, the cluster bombs detonated over an area of approximately 700 square metres.
Amnesty International investigated the strikes and found evidence that Russian forces had repeatedly used 9N210/9N235 cluster munitions, as well as scatterable mines, in the Kharkiv area. Both weapon types are subject to international treaty bans: cluster munitions under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and scatterable mines under the Ottawa Treaty (Mine Ban Treaty). Amnesty International concluded that these indiscriminate attacks, which resulted in civilian deaths in a densely populated residential area, amounted to possible war crimes.
As of the available reporting, no individuals have been named or charged in connection with this specific strike, and the case remains part of the broader documentation of alleged Russian war crimes committed during the invasion of Ukraine. A related, separately documented incident is known as the February 2022 Kharkiv cluster bombing.
Russian Armed Forces fire rocket strikes using 9N210/9N235 cluster munitions into the Industrialnyi District of Kharkiv, striking a residential area and playground on Myru Street; 9 civilians killed and 35 wounded.
Amnesty International publishes investigation into relentless Russian shelling of Kharkiv, documenting use of cluster munitions and scatterable mines and describing such attacks as possible war crimes.
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