According to experts, images from Ukrainian cities show that cluster munitions were used there. Their use against densely populated residential areas without a military objective is considered a war crime.
Experts in conflict research, human rights and weapons science denounce the use of cluster munitions against the Ukrainian population.
According to human rights organizations, several people, including children, have been killed in attacks of this type on Ukrainian cities in recent days. “We have to be prepared for terrible suffering,” said Simone Wisotzki from the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research in view of the Russian artillery, which is moving closer to the big cities, the German Press Agency.
Experts have little doubt
Cluster munitions are rockets or bombs that burst while still in the air over the target and release a large number of small explosive devices, the so-called submunitions. These mini-bombs, about the size of a soda can or aerosol can, then fall to the ground within a radius of several tens of meters. They can penetrate even lightly armored vehicles and not only fatally injure people nearby with their fragmentation effects. Cluster munitions can be fired from the ground by rocket launchers, but they can also be dropped as bombs from aircraft.
Experts who spoke to the German Press Agency leave little doubt that cluster munitions have been used over Kharkiv in the past few days. The city with more than a million inhabitants is the second largest in Ukraine. Photos and videos from eyewitnesses show not only the impact of cluster munitions in residential areas of the city, but also remains of ammunition that did not explode.
A video from a surveillance camera in Kharkiv shows cluster munitions falling in front of and onto a multi-storey building in the middle of a residential area. The mini-bombs destroy cars, damage the building and may also hit people seen at the edge of the video. “It is a civilian area that is being bombed here, and that is a violation of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions,” Wisotzki told dpa after viewing the recordings.
Regarding statements by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday that Russia was “aiming only at military objects” and working “exclusively with high-precision weapons”, conflict researcher Visotsky said: “Cluster munitions are not precision weapons.”
Children among the dead too
This type of ammunition is dangerous not only because of its immediate explosive effect and the shrapnel. According to Alan Barlow, the chief technical adviser for the organization Conflict Armament Research, at least ten percent of the submunitions do not detonate as intended: “These duds pose a serious risk of explosion for people in the area until they are disarmed.” Barlow told the dpa that he also saw the remains of cluster munitions in pictures from Kharkov.
Cluster bombs are outlawed in most countries around the world. To date, 110 countries have ratified the 2008 Convention against Cluster Munitions, including Germany. The convention prohibits, among other things, the manufacture and use of this type of ammunition. However, Russia and Ukraine did not sign the treaty. According to reports, cluster munitions have also been used in contested areas in Donbass since 2014.
Human rights organizations had already condemned the current use of cluster munitions in Ukraine in the past few days. Amnesty International reported an attack on a kindergarten in the town of Ochtyrka using cluster munitions. Three civilians were killed, including a child. Human Rights Watch reported that a Ukrainian hospital was hit by cluster munitions. There were four dead and ten injured, including medical staff.
In principle, international humanitarian law prohibits shelling of civilians and civilian areas. Violations of international humanitarian law can be punished as war crimes. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, weapons that can hit civilians and soldiers indiscriminately because of their dispersion should not be used in cities.
Source: Stern
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