UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Jul 26 — In a double-tap attack on the Kholodnohirskyi district of Kharkiv, Russia used cluster Iskander munition for the second strike, reported Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of Kharkiv region police, on July 24. 

Russia attacks Kharkiv and the surrounding region often because of its proximity to the border and the frontline, especially so since May 2024, when Moscow’s new ground offensive from the north started.

Tymoshko said that Russia had been attacking the city on July 24 starting from 5 o’clock in the morning. During the day, they hit an industrial object, an enterprise, in the city, and after an hour, they hit the same place with a cluster missile. Police are sure Moscow troops utilized cluster munition to injure rescuers and police who arrived at the hit site after the first strike. 

“It’s a miracle that rescuers and police left the facility 10 minutes before the second] strike. But they attacked with cluster [munition], [submunitions] blew up around a significant area, and people who were just passing [the enterprise] by or were in a residential area nearby got hit.”

Tymoshko also said that the munition Russians used was developed during the second quarter of 2024, according to the manufacture date on the remnants of the shell. “Everything goes from the assembly line right to the frontline,” Tymoshko said. 

Law enforcement has already started pre-trial investigations into violations of laws and customs of war in relation to the attack. 

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