Kyiv: Amnesty International charged on monday Russia of war crimes Ukrainesaying attack KharkivMany had killed hundreds of civilians using banned cluster bombs.
In a report on Ukraine’s second largest city, the rights group said, “The repeated bombings of residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv are indiscriminate attacks, killing and wounding hundreds of civilians, and thus becoming war crimes.”
“This is true for attacks conducted using clusters (munitions), as well as for attacks using other types of unguided rockets and unguided artillery shells,” it said.
“The continued use of such erroneous explosive weapons in populated civilian areas, in the knowledge that they are repeatedly causing large numbers of civilian casualties, even the equivalent of directing attacks against civilian populations Might as well be.”
amnesty said it had uncovered evidence of the repeated use by Russian forces of 9N210 and 9N235 cluster bombs and shatterable land mines in Kharkiv, all of which are banned under international conventions.
Cluster bombs release dozens of bombs or grenades into the air, scattering them indiscriminately over hundreds of square meters (yards).
Amnesty said the scattered land mines combine “cluster war material and the worst possible characteristics of antipersonnel land mines”.
Unguided artillery shells have a margin of error of more than 100 m.
The report, titled “Anyone Can Die at Any Time”, described how Russian forces began targeting civilian areas of Kharkiv on 24 February, the first day of the offensive.
The “relentless” shelling continued for two months, wreaking “bulk destruction” on the city of 1.5 million.
“People have been killed in their homes and streets, on playgrounds and in cemeteries, while queuing for humanitarian aid, or shopping for food and medicine,” it said. donatella roverAmnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Advisor.
“The repeated use of widely banned cluster weapons is shocking, and yet another sign of an outright disregard for civilian life.
“The Russian forces responsible for these horrific attacks must be held accountable.”
Kharkiv’s military administration told Amnesty that 606 civilians have been killed and 1,248 wounded in the region since the start of the conflict.
Russia and Ukraine are not parties to international conventions banning cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines.
But, Amnesty stressed, “International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks and the use of weapons indiscriminately by nature.
“Committing indiscriminate strikes resulting in the death or injury of civilians or damage to civilian objects constitutes a war crime.”
One of the witnesses Amnesty spoke to was a cancer survivor, only to lose both of her legs in a Russian cluster bombing attack.
Olena SorokinaThe 57-year-old was outside her building when she was hit by flying shrapnel. He lost one leg immediately and the other had to be amputated later.
A neighbor with him died on the spot. The latter’s daughter said shrapnel burst through the building.
She said, “Even if the mother was inside her house, she would have been hurt. She had no chance in the face of this kind of bombing.”
Amnesty investigated 41 Russian attacks that killed at least 62 people and injured at least 196. It spoke to 160 people in Kharkiv over two weeks in April and May, including survivors, relatives of victims, witnesses and doctors.
Ukraine says it has launched more than 12,000 war crime investigations since the war broke out.
In a report on Ukraine’s second largest city, the rights group said, “The repeated bombings of residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv are indiscriminate attacks, killing and wounding hundreds of civilians, and thus becoming war crimes.”
“This is true for attacks conducted using clusters (munitions), as well as for attacks using other types of unguided rockets and unguided artillery shells,” it said.
“The continued use of such erroneous explosive weapons in populated civilian areas, in the knowledge that they are repeatedly causing large numbers of civilian casualties, even the equivalent of directing attacks against civilian populations Might as well be.”
amnesty said it had uncovered evidence of the repeated use by Russian forces of 9N210 and 9N235 cluster bombs and shatterable land mines in Kharkiv, all of which are banned under international conventions.
Cluster bombs release dozens of bombs or grenades into the air, scattering them indiscriminately over hundreds of square meters (yards).
Amnesty said the scattered land mines combine “cluster war material and the worst possible characteristics of antipersonnel land mines”.
Unguided artillery shells have a margin of error of more than 100 m.
The report, titled “Anyone Can Die at Any Time”, described how Russian forces began targeting civilian areas of Kharkiv on 24 February, the first day of the offensive.
The “relentless” shelling continued for two months, wreaking “bulk destruction” on the city of 1.5 million.
“People have been killed in their homes and streets, on playgrounds and in cemeteries, while queuing for humanitarian aid, or shopping for food and medicine,” it said. donatella roverAmnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Advisor.
“The repeated use of widely banned cluster weapons is shocking, and yet another sign of an outright disregard for civilian life.
“The Russian forces responsible for these horrific attacks must be held accountable.”
Kharkiv’s military administration told Amnesty that 606 civilians have been killed and 1,248 wounded in the region since the start of the conflict.
Russia and Ukraine are not parties to international conventions banning cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines.
But, Amnesty stressed, “International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks and the use of weapons indiscriminately by nature.
“Committing indiscriminate strikes resulting in the death or injury of civilians or damage to civilian objects constitutes a war crime.”
One of the witnesses Amnesty spoke to was a cancer survivor, only to lose both of her legs in a Russian cluster bombing attack.
Olena SorokinaThe 57-year-old was outside her building when she was hit by flying shrapnel. He lost one leg immediately and the other had to be amputated later.
A neighbor with him died on the spot. The latter’s daughter said shrapnel burst through the building.
She said, “Even if the mother was inside her house, she would have been hurt. She had no chance in the face of this kind of bombing.”
Amnesty investigated 41 Russian attacks that killed at least 62 people and injured at least 196. It spoke to 160 people in Kharkiv over two weeks in April and May, including survivors, relatives of victims, witnesses and doctors.
Ukraine says it has launched more than 12,000 war crime investigations since the war broke out.