Ukrainian military endangered civilians, Amnesty says

Launching attacks from populated areas or establishing military bases in schools and hospitals are tactics that violate international humanitarian law, Amnesty International warned in a statement on Thursday.

“We have documented a tendency for Ukrainian forces to endanger civilians and violate the laws of war when operating in populated areas,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian army from respecting international humanitarian law,” she added.

Ukrainian fighting tactics endanger civilians.

The authorities should immediately locate its forces away from populated areas, or evacuate civilians from where the military is operating.

Such tactics though do not in any way justify Russia war crimes.

https://t.co/sBUW42RPhk

— Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) August 4, 2022

Between April and July, Amnesty International researchers investigated Russian strikes in the regions of Kharkiv (east), Donbass and Mykolaiv (south-east), inspecting 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.

“Tactics that in no way justify indiscriminate Russian attacks”

She claims that Ukrainian forces have established military bases in schools and hospitals.

If the NGO denounces these Ukrainian tactics, it insists on the fact that they “in no way justify the blind Russian attacks” which have hit the civilian populations.

Amnesty International says it contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense about its research findings on July 29 but had not received a response as of the press release.