Speaking of Bayraktar, a couple of weeks ago Kremlin claimed to have
destroyed 35 of 36 that Ukraine allegedly had, which is such an obvious nonsense
(Ukraine never had that many; and definitely had more than one remaining). Since then they claim to have
destroyed a few more. Those
negative remaining drones must be some sort of spacetime anomaly, which would explain the spontaneous combustion of the ill-fated warship
The fact that Ukraine had 36 Bayraktars TB2, as well as a new batch of these Turkish drones, was confirmed by Reuters and CNN.
Ukraine has bought more than 20 Bayraktar TB2 armed drones from Turkish company Baykar
in recent years and ordered a further 16 on January 27. That batch was delivered in early March.
https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraines-defence-imports-turkey-jumped-30-fold-q1-turkish-data-2022-04-06/Ukraine was the first country to purchase the TB2s in 2019 and has ordered at least 36 drones so far.
Last month, its defense minister announced the arrival of a new shipment of the drones.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/11/middleeast/mideast-summary-04-11-2022-intl/index.html
The strategy of the 'defenders' did indeed seem to be to use multiple civilian buildings and keep the civilians hostage in them while doing so. At least that's my analysis based on the footage I've seen and the pretty much universal testimony of the liberated civilians.
Source? Please, do not say it comes from any Russian Ministry pleaaaase...
Not really about the hostages, however at the end of March 2022, the Washington Post published critical statements by Western experts that Ukrainian troops were placing military equipment in residential areas.
[...] “I am very reluctant to suggest that Ukraine is responsible for civilian casualties,
because Ukraine is fighting to defend its country from an aggressor,”
said William Schabas, an international law professor at Middlesex University in London.
“But to the extent that Ukraine brings the battlefield to the civilian neighborhoods, it increases the danger to civilians.”
[...] “If there is military equipment there and [the Russians] are saying
we are launching at this military equipment, it undermines an assertion that
they are attacking intentionally civilian objects and civilians,” said Richard Weir,
a researcher in Human Rights Watch’s crisis and conflict division, who is working in Ukraine.
[...] The Ukrainian military has “a responsibility under international law”
to remove their forces and equipment from civilian-populated areas,
and if that is not possible, to move civilians out of those areas, Weir said.
“If they don’t do that, that is a violation of the laws of war,” he added.
“Because what they are doing is they are putting civilians at risk.
Because all that military equipment are legitimate targets.” [...]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/28/ukraine-kyiv-russia-civilians/
Your video on the second link shows an alleged missile attack on a high-rise building in Kyiv and its consequences. It was the success of the Ukrainian missile defense at the very beginning of the operation, a Russian missile aimed at a military facility was shot down and its fragments fell into a residential building. If a Russian rocket hit the house, the house would not have a hole in the side, but a large pile of rubble.
You can see the missile explode. It wasn't a dud, the explosion takes out 4 floors, which on the average is 12 m in diameter. 12m explosion inside a building made of concrete and steel, not bricks. Who are you trying to fool with "fragments falling on the building". By fragments you must mean a warhead that explodes on impact.
For objectivity it's better to study the answers of officials, and not forum members.
The Russian side commented on
this strike. I think that independent professional military experts will be able to confirm or refute this information.
According to a source in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation,
the nature of the damage suggests that he was hit by an anti-aircraft missile,
which is clearly visible on the video.
According to a source reported by TASS, it is obvious that the incident occurred during
the reflection of a night rocket attack on Ukrainian military facilities.
During the launch, there was a failure in the missile guidance system of the Ukrainian Buk-M1
medium-range anti-aircraft missile system, after which the missile hit the corner of a residential building.
https://rg.ru/2022/02/26/v-zhiloj-dom-v-kieve-popala-raketa-vypushchennaia-ukrainskimi-voennymi.html