Ukraine officials have said a family, including a three-year-old child, have died after their car was allegedly hit by Russian shelling.
The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office said an investigation has been launched after a civilian vehicle came under attack just outside the Ukraine village of Husarivka in the Izium District on Sunday, March 27.
According to preliminary data, the family's car was hit by the Russian military, the Ukraine officials said. The agency also posted pictures of a burnt out vehicle onto Telegram with their statement.
Newsweek has not been able to independently verify the claims.
"On March 27, 2022, on a road between the village of Shevelivka and the village of Husarivka, Izium District, the damaged Honda CR-V vehicle was found. The dead family was found in the car: a woman, a man and a 3-year-old-child," the statement said.
The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office said that a pre-trial investigation into violations of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder, is underway and ongoing.
Russia has frequently been accused of purposely targeting civilians in Ukraine since it began its invasion on February 24, an act which would constitute a war crime.
Such incidents included the alleged attacks at schools, hospitals and residential buildings across Ukraine.
In a March 23 statement, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of "deliberately targeting" a number of civilian buildings and facilities with "indiscriminate attacks," including civilian vehicles, apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, shopping centers, and ambulances.
"I can announce that, based on information currently available, the U.S. government assesses that members of Russia's forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine," Blinken said.
Ukraine also accused Russia of committing a war crime after a theater sheltering civilians in the city of Mariupol was attacked, killing an estimated 300 people.
Russia denies targeting the theater, which had the word "children" in large letters written in Russian outside.
According to the Associated Press, there have been at least 34 incidents of medical facilities in Ukraine coming under attack since the war broke out.
Pavlo Kovtoniuk, a former deputy minister of health, and World Health Organization consultant who has been documenting the attacks, said Russia is bombing "medical infrastructure on purpose, fighting sick people as if they were military."
"Bombing hospitals is especially cruel because it shows civilian people that there is no safe place for them on Earth," he told the Associated Press.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at least 1,035 civilians, including 90 children, have been killed during the war in Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has been contacted for comment.
