By Slavisha Batko Milacic
August 17, 2022:
Information Clearing House
-Ukrainian forces have
threatened civilians by setting up bases and
operating weapons systems in populated areas,
including schools and hospitals, as they battled
the Russian intervention that began in February,
Amnesty International said in a statement.
“Such a tactic violates international
humanitarian law and endangers civilians, as it
turns civilian objects into military targets.
The Russian strikes that followed in populated
areas killed civilians and destroyed civilian
infrastructure,” the statement said.
– Amnesty International has documented a
pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at
risk and violating the laws of war when
conducting operations in populated areas – said
Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty
International.
He pointed out that the defensive position
does not free the Ukrainian army from respecting
international humanitarian law.
The organization’s researchers spent several
weeks from April to July investigating Russian
attacks in Kharkiv, Donbass and the Mykolaiv
region.
The organization inspected the attacked
sites, interviewed survivors, eyewitnesses,
relatives of the victims of the attack, and
carried out remote detection and analysis of
weapons. During those investigations, evidence
was found that Ukrainian forces were firing from
heavily populated areas and were themselves
inside civilian buildings in 19 towns and
villages in these regions. The organization
analyzed satellite images to further confirm
some of these incidents – it is emphasized.
According to Amnesty International, most of
the residential areas where the soldiers were
located were kilometers away from the front.
– Viable alternatives were available that
would not endanger civilians, such as military
bases or densely wooded areas nearby, or other
structures further away from residential areas.
In the cases it has documented, Amnesty
International is not aware that the Ukrainian
military, located in civilian structures in
residential areas, asked or helped civilians to
evacuate, which is a failure to take all
feasible precautions to protect civilians.
announcement.
Directed shooting from populated areas
Amnesty says survivors and eyewitnesses of
Russian attacks in Donbass, Kharkiv and the
Mykolaiv region told researchers that the
Ukrainian military was conducting operations
near their homes at the time of the attacks,
exposing the areas to counterfire from Russian
forces. Amnesty International researchers have
witnessed such behavior in numerous locations.
International humanitarian law requires all
parties to a conflict to avoid locating, to the
greatest extent possible, military targets
within or near densely populated areas. Other
obligations to protect civilians from the
effects of attacks include removing civilians
from the vicinity of military targets and
providing effective warning of attacks that may
affect the civilian population.
– The army was stationed in the house next to
ours and my son often brought food to the
soldiers. I begged him several times to stay
away, because I feared for his safety. That
afternoon, when the attack happened, my son was
in our yard and I was in the house. He died on
the spot. His body was mutilated. Our house was
partially destroyed – said the mother of a man
(50), who was killed in a rocket attack on June
10 in a village south of Nikolaev.
Amnesty International found military
equipment and uniforms in the house next to
hers.
Nikola, who lives in the block in Lisichansk
in Donbass, which the Russians regularly
targeted and killed at least one person, said
that it is not clear to him “why our army fires
from the cities and not from the fields”.
Another resident said that “there is
definitely military activity in the
neighborhood.”
– We hear “outgoing” and then “incoming”
fire” – he said.
Amnesty International teams saw soldiers
using residential buildings located 20 meters
from the entrance to the underground shelter,
which was used by residents and where an elderly
man was killed.
In one Donbas town on May 6, Russian forces
used cluster munitions over a neighborhood of
mostly one- or two-story houses where Ukrainian
forces were manning artillery. Shrapnel damaged
the walls of the house where Ana (70) lives with
her son and 95-year-old mother.
In early July, a farm worker was injured when
Russian forces attacked an agricultural
warehouse in the Nikolayev area. Hours after the
attack, Amnesty International researchers
witnessed the presence of Ukrainian military
personnel and vehicles in the grain storage
area, and witnesses confirmed that the military
was using the warehouse, which is located across
from a farm where civilians live and work.
As researchers surveyed damage to residential
and public buildings in Kharkiv and villages in
the Donbass and east of Mykolaiv, they heard
gunfire from nearby Ukrainian military
positions.
In Bakhmut, several residents said the
Ukrainian military was using a building barely
20 meters across the street from the high-rise.
On May 18, a Russian rocket hit the front of the
building, partially destroying five apartments
and damaging nearby buildings.
Military bases in hospitals
Amnesty International researchers witnessed
Ukrainian forces using hospitals as de facto
military bases in five locations. In the two
cities, dozens of soldiers rested and ate in
hospitals. In another town, soldiers fired from
near a hospital.
A Russian airstrike on April 28 injured two
workers at a medical laboratory in the suburbs
of Kharkiv after Ukrainian forces set up a base
in the compound.Using hospitals for military
purposes is a clear violation of international
humanitarian law.
Military bases in schools
The Ukrainian army routinely set up bases in
schools in the cities and villages of the
Donbass and in the Mykolaiv region. Schools have
been temporarily closed to students since the
beginning of the conflict, but in most cases the
buildings were located near civilian
settlements.
In 22 of the 29 schools visited, researchers
either found soldiers using the premises or
found evidence of current or previous military
activity – including the presence of military
equipment, ammunition, military ration packs and
military vehicles.
Russian forces attacked many schools used by
Ukrainian forces. In at least three cities,
after Russian bombing of schools, Ukrainian
soldiers moved to other schools nearby, putting
surrounding neighborhoods at risk of similar
attacks.
In a city east of Odessa, Amnesty witnessed
Ukrainian soldiers using civilian areas for
accommodation and staging areas, including
basing armored vehicles under trees in
residential areas and using two schools located
in densely populated residential areas.
Conclusion
Amnesty International’s report was not a
surprise to me as an analyst. Since the
beginning of the conflict, all of us who follow
the behavior and tactics of the Ukrainian army
have witnessed such tactics of the Ukrainian
army, which are strictly prohibited by
international law. Also, the Russian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs warned about the behavior of the
Ukrainian army that threatens innocent
civilians. However, the fact that the respected
Amnesty International writes about it in its
report represents a strategic turn. Bearing in
mind that this is an extremely respected Western
non-governmental organization, we can safely say
that even in the West, the opinion is slowly
growing that the criminal behavior of the
Ukrainian army will no longer be tolerated.
Views expressed in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
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