27.2 C
Accra
Saturday, December 14, 2024
WorldUkraine war: Evidence shows widespread use of cluster munitions in Kharkiv

Date:

Ukraine war: Evidence shows widespread use of cluster munitions in Kharkiv

Russia has killed hundreds of civilians in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv using indiscriminate shelling and widely-banned cluster munitions, according to new research by Amnesty International.

Amnesty said it had found evidence of Russian forces repeatedly using 9N210/9N235 cluster bombs, as well as “scatterable” munitions – rockets that eject smaller mines that explode later at timed intervals.

The BBC visited five separate impact sites in residential neighbourhoods in Kharkiv and saw evidence of a distinctive, symmetrical spalling effect associated with cluster munitions. We showed images from the sites to three weapons experts, who all said the impacts were consistent with the controversial weapons.

“Those impacts are from cluster munitions, it’s a classic signature,” said Mark Hizney, a senior researcher in the arms division of Human Rights Watch, a campaign group.

“And in one image you can see a remnant of a stabiliser fin from one of the submunitions,” he said.

CCTV footage passed to the BBC by a resident at one of the sites showed successive clustered detonations – “a very strong indicator of submunitions from a cluster weapon,” said Hamish de Bretton Gordon, a former British Army colonel and Cambridge University weapons expert.

An apparent submunition impact from a cluster bomb in a Kharkiv residential neighbourhood
Image caption, The spalling pattern created by cluster bomb impacts, seen in a Kharkiv residential neighbourhood (Joel Gunter/BBC)

Cluster munitions are controversial because they detonate in the air and release a cluster of smaller bombs which fall indiscriminately over a wide area, potentially putting civilians at risk.

The smaller bombs also often fail to detonate on impact, posing a threat for years to come. More than 120 countries have signed a treaty prohibiting the use of the weapons – though neither Russia or Ukraine are signatories.

At the site of one apparent cluster munition strike in Kharkiv, around a housing estate and playground in the Industrialnyi neighbourhood, the spalling effect was visible around three separate impacts on three sides of a playground.

Ivan Litvynyenko’s wife Oksana was badly wounded in the strike and later died.

Litvynyenko, 40, told the BBC the couple was walking through the playground with their five-year-old daughter when the munitions hit. Their 14-year-old son was inside their apartment.

“Suddenly I saw a flash and I heard the first explosion,” Litvynyenko said. “I grabbed my daughter and pressed her to a tree. My wife was about five metres away and she just dropped.”

An impact site next to where Ivan Litvynyenko's wife was hit by shrapnel. (Joel Gunter/BBC)
Image caption, An impact site next to a playground where Ivan Litvynyenko’s wife was hit by shrapnel. (Joel Gunter/BBC)

Oksana, 41, was hit by shrapnel that penetrated her back, chest and abdomen, puncturing her lungs and damaging her spine.

She was in intensive care for two months, until Sunday, when she died from complications from her injuries and diabetes, Litvynyenko said.

“Doctors operated on her several times but her body could not survive it,” he said, speaking just hours after her death.

Describing the strike, Litvynyenko said he saw a “series of explosions, lots of bombs one after another”.

Two other residents who were inside their apartments at the time of the strike told the BBC they heard successive detonations when the attack happened. “You could hear explosions over several minutes,” said Danya Volynets, 26.

“When we came outside I could see the burning cars. It looked like everything was on fire.”

Tetiana Ahayeva, a 53-year-old nurse, was standing in front of her building when the munitions hit. “There was a sudden sound of firecrackers everywhere, lots of them, all over,” she told Amnesty.

“We dropped to the ground and tried to find cover. Our neighbour’s son, a 16-year-old boy called Artem Shevchenko, was killed on the spot. He had a hole 1cm wide in his chest. His father had a shattered hip and a shrapnel wound in his leg.”

Oksana Litvynyenko with her daughter. Oksana was badly wounded in April and died on Sunday. (Family handout)
Image caption, Oksana Litvynyenko with her daughter. Oksana was badly wounded in April and died on Sunday. (Family handout)

Doctors at a central Kharkiv hospital said that among the victims brought in after the playground strike they saw penetrating wounds to the abdomen, chest and back, and they collected metal fragments which matched the types of pellets found in 9N210/9N235 cluster munitions.

According to Amnesty, the strike on the Industrialnyi neighbourhood killed at least nine civilians and wounded 35, detonating over an area of 700 square metres.

At another residential building, in Kharkiv’s Haribaldi Street area, a munition landed in the entranceway to the building, killing two elderly women and gravely wounding another. The tell-tale spalling effect could be seen around the doorway and on the path nearby.

“There was a series of explosions one after another,” said resident Nadia Kravchuk, 61. “I came out and saw a woman lying here face down and another other woman lying here, and next to them was Lena, who lost both her legs. She was crying out, ‘I have lost my leg.'”

Tetiana Bielova and Olena Sorokina were sitting on a bench outside when a munition detonated nearby.
They got up to enter the building but a second munition landed right in the entranceway, killing Bielova and another woman called Tetiana who was with them. Sorokina lost both her legs in the blast.
Nadia Kravchuk looks down at damage from a munition that killed two of neighbours (Joel Gunter/BBC)
Image caption, Nadia Kravchuk looks down at damage from a munition that killed two of her neighbours (Joel Gunter/BBC)

In total, over two weeks’ field research, Amnesty investigated 41 strikes in Kharkiv in which at least 62 civilians were killed and 196 wounded, the charity said. They found evidence of cluster munitions and unguided rockets killing people who were shopping, queuing for food aid, or simply walking down the street.

“These weapons should never be used,” Donatella Rovera, Amnesty’s senior crisis response adviser, told the BBC. “They cannot be pinpointed. They are area weapons. And they have a devastating effect and cause a lot of civilian death and injury.”

Use of the weapons was “tantamount to deliberately targeting civilians,” Rovera said. “Russia cannot claim it does not know the effect of these types of weapons,” she said. “And the decision to use them shows absolute disregard for civilian life.”

Russia has previously denied using cluster munitions in Ukraine and insisted that Russian forces have only struck military targets.

Source: BBC

[forminator_poll id="710479"]

Latest stories

GCAG congratulates Mahama, calls for immediate action on illegal mining

The Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey (GCAG) has extended warm...

Litigation is expensive, seek council before land purchase – Expert warns

Property expert and lawyer Alex K. Osei-Owusu has urged...

I am still in shock! – NPP stalwart over election defeat

The Greater Accra Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic...

This term is about making lasting impacts – John Mahama on resetting Ghana

President-elect John Dramani Mahama has promised that his second...

WAPCo restores gas supply to Tema following brief interruption

The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) has resumed...

Bawumia could get another shot at presidency in 2028 – Political scientist

A political scientist specializing in democracy and development, Dr....

20% of NPP supporters have switched to NDC – Global Info Analytics

The Executive Director and Head of Global Research at...

Related stories

Biden grants full pardon to son Hunter amid criminal sentencing

US President Joe Biden has granted a full and...

Court issues 2-year suspended death sentence to former Bank of China Chair for bribery, others

Former Bank of China chairman Liu Liange on Tuesday received...

Ghanaians among UN peacekeepers injured in Southern Lebanon attacks

The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has reported...

Russia denies Trump told Putin to restrain Ukraine war efforts

The Kremlin has rejected media reports suggesting that US...

More than 100 detained as protesters defy Amsterdam’s ban on protests

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested in Amsterdam on...

Traffic jam erupts as cyclists from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng for dumplings

A social media trend that began as a lighthearted...

Adin Ross wins $1.6m on Trump election bet after public endorsement

American streamer and social media influencer Adin Ross scored...