Ukraine declared on Thursday (4) that it was “outraged” by the NGO Amnesty International’s (AI) accusations that the Ukrainian military was endangering civilian lives in the war against Russia.
“I am as angry as you are at Amnesty International’s report. I find it unfair,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a Facebook message.
According to Kiev, the human rights organization is establishing a “false equivalence” between the actions of the invading Russian forces and the actions of the Ukrainian troops defending the country.
According to AI, the Ukrainian military has endangered civilians by setting up military bases in schools and hospitals, and by launching attacks to contain Russian invasion from populated areas.
In a statement, the organization warned that these tactics violate international humanitarian law.
“We have seen a tendency for Ukrainian forces to endanger civilians and violate the laws of war when operating in populated areas,” said Agnès Callamard, AI’s general secretary.
“Being on the defensive does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law,” he said.
Between April and July, NGO experts investigated Russian bombings in Kharkiv (east), Donbass and Mykolaiv (south). They inspected the hits of the attacks and questioned survivors, witnesses and relatives of the victims.
According to AI, investigators found evidence that Ukrainian forces had launched attacks from residential areas and set up bases in civilian buildings in 19 cities in those areas.
The organization pointed out that other options, such as operating at military bases or in the jungle, would not endanger civilians. According to the information he received, he also stated that they do not want the soldiers who settled in these regions to leave the civilians.
While the NGO condemns these tactics, it insists that they “do not in any way justify indiscriminate Russian attacks” on the civilian population.
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© Agence France-Press
source: Noticias
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