The OSCE Moscow Mechanism was invoked for a second time by the OSCE after consultation with Ukraine on 2 June 2022 by 45 countries, including the United States. This was the second invocation of the Moscow Mechanism since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The Moscow Mechanism “provides the option of sending missions of experts to assist participating States in the resolution of a particular question or problem relating to the human dimension.” This invocation of the mechanism, among other objectives, specifically included efforts to “[e]stablish the facts and circumstances of possible cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including due to deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure.1 This report seeks to provide evidence to the Moscow Mechanism pertaining to deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure.

21 healthcare facilities and 30 public primary and secondary schools in Sievierodonetsk raion, Luhansk oblast, Ukraine were damaged by bombardment between 24 February and 13 June 2022. The imagery and open source data analyzed by Yale HRL independently corroborates reports of Russia and Russia-aligned forces bombarding Ukrainian forces and civilians in urban areas of Sievierodonetsk raion.

This review of 30 healthcare facilities and 59 public primary and secondary schools across the four main urban areas in Sievierodonetsk raion found that 57 percent of all facilities analyzed sustained some form of visible damage. Eight were destroyed and 22 facilities sustained more than one wave of bombardment. Of the remaining 38 facilities with no visible direct damage, 20 had visible damage to buildings within a 400 meter radius, and 18 had no damage to the surrounding area.

Based on this evidence, Yale HRL concludes with high confidence that Russia and Russia-aligned forces have engaged in widespread, indiscriminate, and persistent bombardment of protected civilian objects in Sievierodonetsk raion on a massive scale. Widespread, indiscriminate, and persistent bombardment of protected civilian objects can constitute a war crime and crime against humanity.

Yale HRL does not present findings in this report on intentionality. However, Yale HRL reviewed indicators that can in some places be probative of intentional targeting of civilian objects. While probative evidence of intent was collected and analyzed, this report does not make an overall determination on the intent to target civilian facilities. Regardless, the damage documented herein is clear evidence of alleged war crimes by Russia and Russia-aligned forces.