Editing Grozny (section)

===Second Chechen War===
{{See also|Battle of Grozny (1999–2000)}}

Grozny was once again the epicentre of fighting after the outbreak of the [[Second Chechen War]], which further caused thousands of fatalities. During the early phase of the Russian siege on Grozny on 25 October 1999, Russian forces launched five [[OTR-21 Tochka|SS-21]] [[ballistic missile]]s at the crowded central [[bazaar]] and a maternity ward, [[Grozny ballistic missile attack|killing more than 140 people]] and injuring hundreds. During the massive shelling of the city that followed, most of the Russian artillery were directed toward the upper floors of the buildings; although this caused massive destruction of infrastructure, civilian casualties were much less than in the first battles.

The final seizure of the city was set in early February 2000, when the Russian military lured the besieged militants to a promised safe passage. Seeing no build-up of forces outside, the militants agreed.{{cn|date=March 2022}} One day prior to the planned evacuation, the Russian Army mined the path between the city and the village of Alkhan-Kala and concentrated most firepower on that point. As a result, both the city mayor and military commander were killed; a number of other prominent separatist leaders were also killed or wounded. Afterwards, the Russians slowly entered the empty city and on 6 February raised the Russian flag in the centre. Many buildings and even whole areas of the city were systematically destroyed. A month later, it was declared safe to allow the residents to return to their homes, although demolition continued for some time. In 2003, the [[United Nations]] called Grozny the most destroyed city on Earth, with not a single building left undamaged.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6414603.stm|title=Programmes {{pipe}} From Our Own Correspondent {{pipe}} Scars remain amid Chechen revival|work=BBC News|date=2007-03-03|access-date=2009-05-05}}</ref>