Video Above: Russia-Ukraine No Fly Zone
By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven
The Russian invasion has murdered at least 13 children so far in its invasion of Ukraine, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Russian Bombs Killing Civilians in Ukraine
Initial reports from multiple news reports said a six year old boy was killed by Russian bombs, a disturbing development which unfortunately appears to be continuing. A March 3 report in the Kyiv Independent said a “Six-Year Old Boy Was Killed in Kyiv Clashes,” and in following days numerous news reports citing civilian deaths are appearing in TV and prints news reports around the world.
Liz Throssel, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement saying “at least 136 people, including 13 children, have been killed in Ukraine since Thursday, February 24. Another 400 civilians, including 26 children, have been injured.”
These numbers appear to be growing quickly as Russia continues to intensify attacks.
As the civilian death toll mounts, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby was careful not to accuse Russia of “deliberately or intentionally” killing civilians, yet he also did raise questions about how civilian apartment buildings are being hit by long-range Russian cruise missiles.
For years, reports in the Russian press have cited their advanced technology built into many of their weapons systems, and one cannot help but think Russia must have a high-measure of precision-targeting technology as well as an ability to accurately identify targets from satellites.
Certainly Russian cruise missiles and ballistic missiles can be guided with precision technology to a large degree, so the attacks on families and killing of children may be part of a deliberate effort to terrorize Ukrainians and break their will to resist. It would seem quite likely that Russian military commanders are capable of discerning military targets from apartment buildings, given major advances in targeting technologies over the last 10 years.
The US Army, for example, introduced GPS guided artillery and rockets as far back as 2007 and 2008, a development which greatly impacted land-warfare tactics and offered commanders an opportunity to greatly limit possibilities for civilian casualties. While precision artillery like Excalibur and precision rockets like the advent of the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) were able to greatly improve a tactical ability to destroy insurgents and terrorists, they also saved lives.
Saving innocent lives with precision was part of the Army’s strategic approach. Years ago, sources specifically said that a precision-guided GMLRS killed Taliban leader Mullah Omar with a precision strike causing no collateral damage. It would seem to be very unlikely that the Russian military does not have an ability to operate similar technology, given that precision land attacks existed 15 years ago.
Can US Defend Against Hypersonic Weapons? The US is Third When It Comes to Hypersonic weapons.”
Russia may be behind militarily in many key areas, yet the country’s ability to fire hypersonic missiles and other advanced weapons would seem to suggest that they quite likely have an ability to operate GPS-guided cruise missiles.
Given Russia’s likely ability to identify targets and launch precision weapons, it seems appropriate to at least raise the question as to whether these kinds of Russian attacks which murder children are deliberate?
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The urgency and seriousness of attacks now killing children have lead several kid-specific advocacy groups to launch intensified efforts to help orphaned and injured children impacted by Russian attacks. One such organization devoted to helping children worldwide called Kidsave, is now massively intensifying its focus on helping kids in Ukraine. https://www.kidsave.org/
From Kidsave –
“We are working hard to help our small team on the ground there to get kids and families into safe places. As of today, our staff has transported 187 children and families out of Ukraine and into Poland.
Our goal is to move at least 200 children a week to safety. We will move at least 1,000 children this month, and there are thousands more who need help, at least 100 in every small village and town in Ukraine. Each rescue operation takes about 2.5 days to make the 1,250 miles round trip. We are finding more vehicles and drivers to help with this work and are awed by the bravery and tirelessness of our team here.”
Kris Osborn is the defense editor for the National Interest and President of Warrior Maven – the 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.
