(Denis speaking in foreign language)
(bombs exploding)
(Denis speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] At roughly 1:00 PM on March 13th,
in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol,
resident, Denis Malykhin records video of
Russian forces striking apartment buildings
throughout the residential area around him.
About an hour later, less than a mile down the street,
another resident, Tymur Rudov,
films the same attack on the neighborhood,
as he and others take cover
(bombs exploding)
(Tymur sighing)
Between these two locations,
a photo posted the day before
shows remnants of what military experts say
is a cluster bomb,
a weapon that can cause indiscriminate civilian harm.
They're all fragments of evidence
that have prompted US officials to accuse Russia of
committing war crimes.
The Wall Street Journal verified videos and photos
posted to social media, analyzed satellite images
from Maxar Technologies, and spoke with military strategists
and residents of the city
to reveal a series of Russian military strikes
on civilian locations.
Mariupol is a southern port city
that had a population of around 450,000 before the war.
It's strategically important,
linking Russian controlled parts of Eastern Ukraine
with a swath of territory the Kremlin has captured
in the south.
The Zhovtnevyi District in the Western part of the city
is one of the areas most decimated by Russian attacks.
The Journal pieced together satellite imagery analysis
from the United Nations and our own data
to show the extent of visible damage.
Footage shot by Tymur Rudov about a year before the invasion
indicates that this is a civilian district.
(soft music)
We can see a shopping center, apartment complexes,
a public square, a maternity hospital, and a theater.
In the four weeks since the invasion of Mariupol began,
all of these places have been obliterated.
Targeting civilians is a playbook
the US government says Russia used in Chechnya and Syria.
The International Criminal Court's definition of war crimes
broadly include willfully killing,
causing suffering, or deliberately targeting civilians.
The Russian Embassy in Washington DC
didn't respond to requests for comment.
The Kremlin has said that it is not targeting civilians.
Now, we see civilian locations being attacked in Mariupol.
Russia has denied using cluster bombs in Ukraine.
More than a hundred countries have joined a treaty
that banned such weapons,
though neither Ukraine nor Russia is a signatory.
These types of munitions release many submunitions,
or small bombs, as they fly,
which can cause widespread civilian harm
in tightly populated areas.
On March 1st, Mariupol's City Council posted photos of
missile debris in a residential neighborhood.
In other photos of the same debris,
munitions experts said this Tochka ballistic missile
is a cluster bomb.
The nose cone and tailpiece of the missile are intact
and didn't leave large impact craters,
indicating they separated before impact
to release a warhead containing smaller bombs.
The City Council shared another photo of
a Russian submunition, steps away from the missile debris,
further evidence that this was a cluster bomb,
according to munitions experts.
Attacks on civilian locations in Mariupol began with
Russian forces hitting civilian infrastructure.
They struck electricity plants and took out cell towers.
In early March, we can see multiple attacks on
Mariupol's food supplies.
Video posted March third shows
a smoldering home improvement store.
Smoke billows from Silpo, a major grocery store
across the road.
Satellite imagery days later reveals
the entire shopping center in ruins.
About a mile away,
videos posted to social media on March fifth
show the city's largest mall, Port City,
home to a grocery store, cafes, and a movie theater,
was also hit.
A satellite image from around the same time
shows the entire mall has been flattened.
A video posted later shows the damage inside.
After targeting basic infrastructure,
Russian forces hit houses and apartment buildings,
leveling large swaths of residential neighborhoods.
About halfway between the two burned shopping centers,
we see a wide view of
damaged four and eight story apartment buildings
in a satellite image from March 12th.
In a photo posted to social media the same day,
munitions experts say we can see the remains of
a second banned cluster bomb in a public square nearby.
Experts say the intact tail piece indicates
this is the same kind of missile
confirmed in other cluster bombings in Ukraine.
Around it are a pharmacy, restaurants, and shops.
The next day, Tymur Rudov and his neighbors take cover,
as the apartment buildings around them are hit.
(woman speaking in foreign language)
(man speaking in foreign language)
(bombs exploding)
(man speaking in foreign language)
(bombs exploding)
(man speaking in foreign language)
(Tymur sighing)
(bombs exploding)
Other videos posted to social media that same week
show widespread bombing of homes in the area.
(bombs exploding)
(man speaking foreign language)
On March 19th, Tymur assesses the destruction of
a neighbor's apartment.
(man speaking in foreign language)
As Russian forces struck residences,
they also began bombing places like hospitals and shelters,
where residents, including children,
had gone to seek refuge.
Here, footage shows the aftermath of the March ninth bombing
of a maternity hospital,
which killed three people and injured 17.
We can see this crater,
which explosives experts say is indicative of
an airdropped bomb weighing at least a thousand pounds.
This woman and her baby died days after being rescued,
according to the Associated Press.
Nearby the hospital, local, Mikhail Puryshev,
who regularly evacuates residents from a bomb shelter there,
was filming the hospital attack
when his location came under fire from the air.
(man speaking in foreign language)
(bombs exploding)
(man speaking in foreign language)
(man speaking foreign language)
Outside, a school across the street,
and an office building and cafe behind him are destroyed.
Less than a mile away from the hospital,
on March 14th, a satellite image reveals the word children
written in Russian on the ground outside of a theater,
signaling civilians to anyone flying overhead.
There were more than a thousand people hiding inside.
The Azov Battalion, a far right paramilitary group
that was absorbed into the Ukrainian National Guard
posted a video to Telegram
showing people had taken shelter there.
Then, on March 16th,
this video shows the aftermath of the Russian bombing
at the same theater.
(man speaking in foreign language)
Satellite imagery taken afterward shows vast destruction.
Municipal authorities later said
more than 300 people died in this attack.
(intense music)
Local officials estimate
over 5,000 civilians have been killed.
On March 28th, the city's mayor called for
a complete evacuation as the attacks continued.
(intense music)