By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
(Washington DC) While Russia’s deliberate efforts to target civilians, neighborhoods and children in Ukraine have been well known for months, there appears to be yet another troubling element to actions taken by the Russian military.
Russian Missiles & Humanitarian Efforts
Russian missiles have struck and destroyed Project Hope warehouses containing critical humanitarian supplies for suffering Ukrainians such as generators and health supplies. The missile strikes appear to be the result of deliberate targeting as two very far apart locations were hit. Project Hope warehouses containing humanitarian supplies in both Odesa and Kherson were hit with Russian rockets, a development which clearly appears to not be pure coincidence.
“The people of Ukraine experienced a real-life nightmare this weekend as Russian attacks ramped up in the Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions, endangering the lives of innocent civilians. In Odesa and in Kherson, two different warehouses storing Project HOPE’s humanitarian aid supplies – including generators and health and hygiene kits – were severely damaged. We are very fortunate to report that none of our staff were injured. We are currently awaiting access to the area to assess the extent of the damage. While the increase in attacks create additional security considerations, Project HOPE is committed to continuing to operate its programs to support the health needs of the Ukrainian people,” Giorgio Trombatore, Project HOPE’s Country Director in Ukraine, said in a statement provided by the organization.
Russian bombardments over the weekend also hit key areas of Kyiv and Kharkiv in what appears to be a revived Russian effort to target areas it routinely attacked at the beginning of the war.
There are several key elements to this, because while there have been many news reports about Russia’s depleted stock of precision-guided weapons, any cursory search of open source data shows that Russia of course has had precision guided rockets for decades. This would suggest more of what Ukrainians have seen throughout the war, namely that Russian rocket attacks could easily have avoided sensitive civilian areas with families and children to a large extent, yet chose not to. The attacks on Project Hope seem quite similar in this respect, as the Russian military not only does not hesitate to destroy civilians but is also apparently willing to destroy critical, life-saving supplies being fast-tracked to suffering Ukrainians under attack.
Kris Osborn is the Military Affairs Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
