Russians pounding Ukraine, but Mariupol's no Grozny — yet

Russia's airstrike on a children's and maternity hospital in Ukraine is stirring memories of the Kremlin's past aerial campaigns waged in Chechnya and Syria

BRUSSELS -- The Russian airstrike on a children’s and maternity hospital in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is the latest in a series of attacks that have gutted apartment blocks and killed people in their homes or simply going about their business.

Allegations of war crimes, impossible yet to prove, are mounting and an investigation is underway at the International Criminal Court. Russia’s willingness to use overwhelming force — aerial bombardment and artillery in civilian areas — is already drawing comparisons with its attacks in Chechnya and Syria.

But any similarity with the destruction visited on the Chechen capital of Grozny, or Aleppo in northern Syria, is premature, for now. The invasion is only in its third week, and military analysts say that while Russia has expanded its use of airpower, its forces are still not pressing their aerial advantage to the full.

Lest we forget, Russia is not the only culprit in times of war. The Associated Press won Pulitzer Prizes for reporting and photography documenting the massive and indiscriminate U.S. use of airpower and artillery and the civilian suffering it inflicted in Vietnam.