Journalists who managed to report on the area confirmed the use, by the Russians, of the
vacuum bomb on the town. The residents, including many civilian
refugees who had fled the fighting in Grozny, were not warned in advance or told of safe exit routes by the Russian side. The sudden heavy
bombardment of the village began in the early hours of the morning and subsided at approximately 3 p.m. At that time, many of the villagers attempted to leave, believing that the military had granted a safe passage out of the village. As they were leaving by road, planes appeared and bombed the cars. The final atrocity came in the afternoon of February 4. The Russians told the Chechens they would be able to leave in a convoy of buses with white flags attached. The convoy which the Russians themselves dispatched for the Chechens was then bombed by the Russians. A resident of the village claimed that Chechen fighters entered the village on 5 February. Ultimately, the bombing lasted for two days and resulted in the deaths of at least 363 civilians, all Russian citizens. Many more were injured. ==European Court of Human Rights judgments==