Human Rights Watch: Ukrainian Forces May Have Used Banned Mines
January 31, 2023 0:25 AM
Anita Powell
Washington —
Human rights researchers say they’ve documented “numerous cases” in which Ukrainian forces fired banned anti-personnel mines at Russian military positions in the fierce battle for the eastern city of Izium last year.
A report, released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch and including multiple, detailed accounts by researchers, raises questions about Kyiv’s credibility and intentions as NATO allies pour billions of dollars’ worth of aid and weapons into Ukraine as the Russian invasion nears the one-year mark.
“They may get some very difficult questions from the people who've been supplying them with other types of weapons about their ability to use them in a way consistent with international humanitarian law,” Steve Goose, director of the arms division at Human Rights Watch, told VOA ahead of the report’s release. That office of the rights watchdog promotes humanitarian disarmament. The rights group is calling for an investigation in Ukraine.
Between April and September, residents told researchers, rockets launched from Ukrainian-held territory scattered thousands of Soviet-era PFM-1 “butterfly mines” over Russian military facilities in Izium, which Russian forces entered in April. The Ukrainian counteroffensive started in September, and their swift victory over the strategically important railway hub was seen by some military analysts as a turning point in the conflict.
Researchers in the city in Ukraine’s Donbas region spoke to health care workers and counted 11 civilian deaths caused by mines, and 50 wounded civilians. Half of those cases involved amputations of the foot or lower leg — a common injury caused by anti-personnel mines. At least five of the wounded were children.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry had previously accused Ukraine of using the Soviet-designed mines, which were banned in 1997 under the Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Treaty, signed in Canada’s capital. Ukraine has also accused Russia of using banned munitions. On numerous occasions, Human Rights Watch has accused Russia of using other types of anti-personnel mines in Ukraine and of committing a range of atrocities, including kidnapping and torture, during their occupation of Izium.
…
https://www.voanews.com/a/human-rights-watch-ukrainian-forces-may-have-used-banned-mines/6941041.html
🇷🇺🇺🇦 While the soldiers of the allied forces break into the positions of the enemy in the areas of Pesok, Maryinka and Avdiivka, the infamous Ukrainian artillerymen throw mines behind their backs, which, in fact, carry a danger only for inexperienced civilians.
In Donetsk, Makiivka and a number of other settlements, they continue to neutralize anti-personnel mines "Petal". Over 600 charges were destroyed in two days.
The positions of the Ukrainian artillery unit fighting civilians will definitely be destroyed. It is not necessary to take such lads as prisoners.
https://t.me/intelslava/34237
(VID) 🇷🇺🇺🇦 Demining of "petals" is carried out in Donetsk. For this case, the T-72 is used.
https://t.me/intelslava/34292
❗️A woman stepped on a mine-petal on the street. Zharikov in Donetsk
https://t.me/DonbassDevushka/18318