Russian Strike Kills 2-Year-Old Girl, Says Ukraine

Facts

• On Sunday, the regional governor of the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro said that a Russian airstrike at a residential district killed a two-year-old girl and left at least 22 injured on June 3.¹
• The missile reportedly destroyed two residential buildings, ten private houses, a shop, and a gas pipeline, with authorities saying three boys are in critical condition in a hospital.²
• According to Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at least 500 Ukrainian children have died since the full-scale invasion of the country, adding, "Many of them could have become famous scholars, artists, sports champions, contributing to Ukraine's history."³
• This comes after Russian officials reported Ukrainian shelling killed two people in Russia's Belgorod on Saturday, with the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, alleging the attack damaged a school, a kindergarten, and a recreation center and set a medical facility on fire.⁴
• According to Gladkov, the strikes saw 600 children evacuated from the towns of Shebekino and Graivoron to Yaroslavl and Kaluga.⁵
• In other developments, BRICS Summit host South Africa has reportedly decided to invite Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin to the conference — scheduled in August — despite an ICC arrest warrant against him, arguing, "Putin is a head of state," and a head of state cannot just be arrested anywhere.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²The Moscow Times, ³The Globe and Mail, ⁴TASS, ⁵Reuters, and ⁶Tribuneindia News Service.

Narratives

• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by The Hill. By continuing to target innocent children, Russia has committed serious war crimes, inflicting psychological distress on Ukrainians. Putin must be charged appropriately, as there's no escaping the conclusion that his intention is to annex Russia's neighbor, no matter the harm it causes to the younger generation.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Newsweek. Interestingly, Ukraine's Western allies frown on an offensive action on its territory but remain silent about Kyiv's drone strikes on the Kremlin or fatal shellings on schools across the Russian border. It's important to note that Ukraine has killed more Russian civilians — including children — than it has admitted to via attacks deep into Russian territory.

Predictions