The human rights NGO says Ukrainian soldiers have put civilians at risk by establishing military bases in schools and hospitals and launching attacks from populated areas to repel the Russian invasion.
Between April and July, Amnesty International researchers investigated Russian strikes in the regions of Kharkiv (in the east), Donbass and Mykolaiv (in the south-east), inspecting the sites hit by strikes and interviewing survivors, witnesses and relatives of victims.
According to the NGO, these researchers found evidence that Ukrainian forces were launching strikes from populated residential areas and had established bases in civilian buildings in 19 towns and villages in these regions.
Most of the residential areas where the soldiers were located were located miles from the front lines, Amnesty notes, pointing out that other options that would not have endangered civilians – such as military bases or densely wooded areas in proximity – were possible.
The NGO indicates that to its knowledge, the soldiers who settled in these residential areas did not ask the civilians to evacuate. She claims that Ukrainian forces have established military bases in schools and hospitals, tactics violate international humanitarian law, warns the NGO in a statement.
Such tactics violate international humanitarian law and endanger civilians, as they turn civilian objects into military targets ?https://t.co/EysZtcqqci
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) August 4, 2022
” We have documented a tendency for Ukrainian forces to endanger civilians and violate the laws of war when operating in populated areas says Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. ” Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian army from respecting international humanitarian law “, she adds.
Ukraine ” indignant “by accusations” unjust »
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba, affirms Thursday in a video posted on Facebook to be “ unworthy “by the charges” unjust from the NGO Amnesty International. Dmytro Kouleba in turn accuses Amnesty International of “ create a false balance between oppressor and victim, between the country that destroys hundreds and thousands of civilians, cities, territories and the country that desperately defends itself “.
” Stop creating this false reality, where everyone is a little guilty of something, and start systematically reporting the truth about what Russia really stands for today “, he adds.
Shortly before, the adviser to the Ukrainian presidency Mykhaïlo Podoliak had assured that “ people’s lives ” were “ priority and that the populations of the towns close to the front were evacuated. Mykhaïlo Podoliak accuses Amnesty of participating in a ” disinformation and propaganda campaign in the service of the Kremlin’s arguments.
If the NGO denounces these Ukrainian tactics, it insists however on the fact that they do not “ in no way justify the indiscriminate Russian attacks which hit the civilian population.
► To read also: War crimes in Ukraine: what can international humanitarian law still do?
(With AFP)