According to the UN, Russia has used banned cluster weapons against Ukraine “repeatedly” since the invasion began. Now Ukrainian deminers are gathering evidence.
The Ukrainian army showed parts from more than 5,000 Russian rockets that were used during the war in Ukraine in the Kharkiv region on Friday.
Lieutenant Colonel and mine clearance expert Igor Ovcharuk told Reuters news agency that bombs fell on the city of Kharkiv at the beginning of the war.
The collected parts will be used as evidence at the International Criminal Court (ICC), says Dmytro Chubenko, a press spokesperson for the Kharkiv state prosecutor’s office.
The ICC is an independent tribunal that investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
According to Reuters, it is a defused cluster bomb, which spreads many small explosives over a large area, which Ovcharuk holds in his hand during the interview.
– There is no accuracy when aiming at military targets. And it is sadly for this that civilians suffer, says Lieutenant Colonel Ovcharuk.
As early as March, according to the UN Human Rights Commission Reuters that the use of cluster munitions could prove to be a war crime.
UN: Both sides used cluster munitions
Use is prohibited throughout Cluster Munitions Convention. 110 countries have ratified the convention, but neither Russia nor Ukraine are among them. According to them, their use violates the rules of international humanitarian law FN.
In August, the UN published its annual report on the use of cluster munitions – and determined the following:
Since the invasion began on February 24, both Russian and Ukrainian forces have repeatedly used cluster munitions.
215 civilians had been killed and 474 wounded, the UN said in August.
The Norwegian The e-service is among those who have declared that Russia uses cluster munitions in its attacks on Ukraine.
The famous Bellingcat excavation reporters has published the documentation that cluster munitions hit near residential areas, hospitals and schools in Kharkiv, Odesa and Kherson, often far from military targets.
Among other things, they verified that it is a Russian cluster bomb:
Amnesty International And Human Rights Watch he also documented the Russian use of cluster munitions.
Minesweeper for VG in Ukraine: find cluster ammunition
i april accompanied the VG deminers to Borodjanka northwest of Kiev. They said that in four days they had cleared 600 mines after the Russians withdrew.
Rescue chief in Borodijanka, Yuriy Istsykeniuk (44), also claimed to have removed the unexploded explosive devices after using cluster bombs.
FN states that up to 40 percent of cluster munitions do not explode when they hit the ground and that they can be dangerous for decades.
