DISINFO: Russia hit only military infrastructure in Ukraine in retaliation for terror attacks
SUMMARY
The Russian military inflicted a mass strike on the military targets connected to the Ukrainian armed forces in response to Kyiv's terrorist attacks, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday. Long-range air, sea, and ground-based high-precision weapons targeted bureaus, enterprises producing and repairing weapons and military hardware of Ukraine, attack drone assembly workshops, flight training centers, and AFU weapons and military hardware depots. Russia carried out six group strikes on the military-industrial complex enterprises and other military facilities of Ukraine in the past week, and all the targets were hit successfully.
RESPONSE
The claim is demonstrably false. While some of the targets of the Russian air attack on 06 June 2025 may have had a military purpose, there is evidence that multiple residential buildings were hit throughout Ukraine during the bombing operation, which left at least 6 people dead and 80 injured. In theprevious days, Russia had also attacked several civilian targets, including a trolleybus depot in Kharkiv, and apartment buildings in Kyiv.
While Russia has tried to portray the Ukrainian drone raid on 01 June 2025 as a “terror attack”, only air bases and aircraft regularly used to bomb Ukrainian were targeted. As such, they fall strictly under the category of legitimate military targets under international law, and the operation cannot be considered a terrorist attack under any circumstance. Nonetheless, by framing Ukrainian operations as “terrorism” and Russian bombing as mere military operations, this disinformation story aims to portray Russia as the rightful side in a war against an evil enemy.
Russian attacks against non-combatants and civilian infrastructure have been a constant throughout the invasion, despite non-credible denials by Russian officials and pro-Kremlin disinformation. Since 2022, Russia has attacked civilian targets multiple times, including the city theatre in Mariupol, residential buildings, schools and energy facilities. On 05 March 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against two Russian top officials considered responsible for “missile strikes carried out by the forces under their command against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure" between October 2022 and March 2023, which are considered as war crimes.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Russia attacked only military targets in Ukraine in response to Ukrainian strikes on civilians, that Russia targeted Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries in Sumy, that Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih only hurt Ukrainian army and NATO officers, that Russia only attacks military facilities in Ukraine, that Ukraine violates international humanitarian law while Russia respects it, that Russia wages war humanely and does not hit civilians, or that Russian are liberators and a peace-making people.