The Russians in Ukraine have recently started using the tactic of 'double-tap' attacks on civilian infrastructure. After striking once, they wait for rescue and medical personnel to arrive on the scene and then strike the same target again. These tactics are aimed at destroying specialists who are difficult to replace because of their level of knowledge and skills in medical or rescue training. The Russians are targeting these people to destabilize the situation, intimidate civilians, and possibly limit aid to the affected people. This is confirmed by the Russians' strikes on the rescue stations of the State Emergency Situations Service of Ukraine. Rescuers and doctors are unarmed people who are protected by international law even during hostilities. Therefore, such actions fall under the category of war crimes in international law. The military leadership believes that the reason for these strikes is the Russians' lack of significant successes on the battlefield recently. Such insidious actions as attacking unarmed medics and rescuers on the scene are not a new tactic for Russian troops. They have used it repeatedly during the campaign in Syria. For a more devastating effect in Syria, Russian troops did not just use 'double-tap' attacks extensively but combined them with different types of weapons. For example, artillery would attack a school, hospital, or market, and then aircraft would come in to hit the same place. One example was an airstrike on a residential building in Aleppo in 2016 while the rubble was being cleared there. Syria Justice and Accountability Centre found that between 2013 and 2021, 58 such 'double-tap' attacks happened, all of them - in residential neighborhoods outside Syrian government-controlled territory. 🎥 A rescue worker cries at the site of the second strike that killed his father