The UN Human Rights Office has documented clear signs of Russian war crimes in Ukraine. However, a final assessment has not yet been possible, said the head of the Ukraine office, Matilda Bogner, who was connected to a UN briefing in Geneva via video on Friday. GReports are being examined that the Russian military has shot fugitives in cars or at demonstrations. Among other things, employees had also noticed the use of cluster munitions.
The office also examine reports of the use of phosphorous munitions. Such incendiary bombs are ignited by contact with oxygen and cause devastating damage. The use of phosphorus bombs is prohibited. Russia dismissed allegations by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday of using phosphorus bombs that killed both adults and children. “Russia has never violated international conventions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
According to reports, cluster munitions were also used on the Ukrainian side, and there is Reports of indiscriminate shelling of separatist areas. In two cases, people are said to have been killed because of alleged pro-Russian attitudes. These reports are still under review.
According to Bogner, the extent of the civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian objects strongly indicates that various principles were violated: the ban on indiscriminate attacks, the principle of distinguishing between military and civilian targets, as well as the requirement that precautions for the Protection of civilians must be created and the measures must be proportionate.