From the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 until August 31, 2024, Russia launched 36 double-tap strikes against Ukraine. In total, the number of hits with signs of double-taps exceeds 60.
This is stated in the research of the non-governmental organization Truth Hounds, in which the researchers used a methodology that involves the verification of the place of the impact, the interval from five minutes to several hours between the impacts at the same location, as well as the confirmation of the arrival of emergency services.
From January 1st to August 31st, 2024, Truth Hounds verified 20 cases of double-hits, more than 2022 and 2023 combined. The number of such blows may be greater.
Truth Hounds
The Truth Hounds note that the increase in the number of double-tap strikes coincides with the appointment on November 17, 2023 of Dmitry Klymenko as the new commander of the Russian Missile Forces and Artillery of the Russian Ground Forces. General Klymenkoʼs military experience includes participation in the First and Second Chechen Wars, and in 2002 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. With the beginning of Russiaʼs military intervention in Syria in September 2015, Klymenko was the commander of the Missile Forces and Artillery of the Euphrates Group. He held this position until at least 2017. He is also involved in the artillery shelling of Mariupol in January 2015, as a result of which 29 people died.
Also, the increase in double strikes coincides with the fact that in January 2024, Major General Alexei Volkov headed the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
The first recorded cases of double-tap strikes by the Russian Federation after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
The first confirmed double strike was on March 1, 2022. The Russians attacked the Kharkiv Regional State Administration with two missiles: the first one fell on the square in front of the building at 08:01, followed by the second missile, which hit the roof 12 minutes later. According to official data, 44 people died then.
In its report on violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine, OSCE noted that the second missile was deliberately aimed at rescuers and people injured by the first strike. This violates Article 41 of Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Employees of the State Emergency Service are among those who suffer the most from double-tap strikes. In at least 20 of the 36 attacks, rescue workers were injured or killed. Regardless of the object of the attack, the second strike primarily harms the civilian population.
The first international reaction to the Russian double strikes in Ukraine appeared shortly after the attack on the building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration.
"A particularly insidious form of attack, associated with the violation of the rules of distinction, proportionality and precautionary measures, is attacks by the double-tap method. On March 1, 2022, the Kharkiv Regional Administration on Svobody Square was allegedly hit by a Russian “Kalibr” cruise missile. After the arrival of the rescuers (after 5-7 minutes), there was a second strike by a similar missile — it hit the building. This means that the rescuers and those injured as a result of the first strike, who are in any case protected from attacks, were deliberately chosen as a target," OSCE said at the time .
However, significant attention from international organizations and international and Ukrainian media arose in 2024 after several high-profile incidents related to double-tap strikes.
"Attacks against the wounded and those who help them are prohibited by international humanitarian law. They are cruel, unscrupulous and must stop," said Director of Operations and Advocacy of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Edem Wosornu, addressing the UN Security Council on April 11, 2024.
On April 18, 2024, the US Mission and the Canadian Delegation to the OSCE emphasized the increase in the number of Russian attacks using the "double-tap" method. The European Union also raised the issue of the Russian double-tap strikes in a statement dated June 11, 2024, condemning such attacks as a gross violation of international norms.
What weapons are used in double-tap strikes and who is responsible
In double-tap strikes, among missile weapons, Russian troops most often use 9K720 "Iskander" missile complexes. In ten of the 15 confirmed missile strikes, the Russians used 9M727, 9M728 and 9M729 cruise missiles and 9M723 ballistic missiles. The latter is used most often.
This can be explained not only by the maneuverability and difficulty of detecting the missile complex itself, the high speed of the ballistic missile, but also by its high accuracy, which allows hitting the same target with repeated strikes, Truth Hounds writes.
Truth Hounds
To determine responsibility for a missile attack using the “Iskander” systems, it is important to take into account not only the direction from which the attack was made, but also the type of missile used and the characteristics of the attacked object.
As for the direction, in the middle of 2022 the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation created a new organizational structure, which was named "United Group of Russian Forces in Ukraine." It included the groupings of troops "West", "Center", "South", "East" and "Dnieper". Each of them consisted of regular combined armies, which were entrusted with the responsibility of controlling and coordinating military operations in certain areas of the front.
Truth Hounds
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation use 9M727, 9M728 and 9M729 cruise missiles mainly to hit predetermined targets, such as ammunition depots, command posts and locations of enemy troops. Goals are chosen in advance. Since the end of 2022, the targets for such strikes have been approved exclusively by the headquarters of the United Group of Russian Forces in Ukraine, whose commander since January 2023 is Army General Valerii Gerasimov. His deputies are Colonel-General Alexei Kim and Army General Oleg Salyukov.
At the same time, the Russians mostly use 9M723 ballistic missiles to hit targets detected by UAVs or intelligence. Due to the high speed of flight, ballistic missiles are used to strike targets that can quickly change their location. Among such targets are the accumulation of personnel, convoys or individual valuable samples of military equipment, air defense systems, airplanes and helicopters at airfields, etc. The time between confirming the target and striking in such cases is 20 minutes. Decisions about such strikes are usually made at the level of the headquarters of the army groups.
For example, it is extremely likely that the attack on Pokrovsk on August 7, 2023 by two cruise missiles launched from the “Iskander” complex was organized at the headquarters of the United Group of Russian Forces in Ukraine.
In April 2024, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation created a new group of troops, which was named "North". It was created after the disbandment of the Western Military District, whose units were part of the "West" troop group. The area of operations of the "West" troop group was narrowed down to active combat operations in the Lyman and Kupyansk directions.
Truth Hounds
Before the aforementioned reorganization, the "West" troop group included four missile brigades:
- 26th Missile Brigade of the 6th Combined Arms Army;
- 448th Missile Brigade of the 20th Combined Arms Army;
- 152nd Missile Brigade of the 11th Army Corps;
- 112th Missile Brigade of the 1st Tank Army.
According to military analysts, in May 2024, the Russian offensive operation in the north of the Kharkiv region was carried out not only by parts of the "North" troop group, but also by separate units of the "West" troop group. This means that “Iskander” missile strikes on Kharkiv and surrounding settlements, including Cherkasy Lozova, could have been carried out by missile brigades of any of these military groups.
When double-tap strikes can be considered a war crime
A "double-tap" tactic involving a first strike against a military target is a war crime under the following circumstances:
- the second strike was aimed at the wounded and sick;
- the second strike targeted medical and civilian personnel, including journalists, police and rescue workers, as well as medical personnel who arrived as first responders to the first strike;
- the second strike was directed at the same military target, again resulting in the accidental death or injury of civilians or damage to civilian objects.
A recent report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), dated May 2024, confirms that the Russian double strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine are a war crime:
"Emergency responders and civilian police officers are protected as civilians under the international humanitarian law (IHL). Targeting a new attack at the same location or target at a time when medical and other emergency responders who are known or could be expected to be on the scene to assist victims raises serious concerns, at least in terms of lack of due diligence, which is required by IHL to minimize harm caused to the civilian population. If the documented attacks were carried out with the intention of killing or injuring first responders or other civilians, these are deliberate attacks on civilians, which is a war crime.”
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