The Russian army has used cluster munitions in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, which are indiscriminately lethal to civilians and whose use could constitute a war crime, says Friday the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW).
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Russian forces used these weapons “in at least three residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, on February 28,” said the American human rights organization.
HRW claims to have identified the use of submunitions via a Russian-made 9M55K Smerch rocket.
“Kharkiv is under constant attack by Russian forces and civilians are hiding in basements to escape explosions and debris,” said HRW weapons director Steve Goose. “Using submunitions in populated areas shows absolute disregard for people’s lives.”
“Their use as documented in Kharkiv could constitute a war crime,” said HRW.
Cluster munitions (BASM) are made up of a container, like a shell, containing explosive projectiles, of smaller size, called “submunitions”. Very imprecise, they strike a huge proportion of civilians.
Their use is prohibited by the Oslo convention of 2008, but Moscow has not signed it. “Their massive use by certain armies in inhabited areas has generated, in the countries concerned, disproportionate humanitarian damage”, according to a summary note from the French Senate.
Cluster munitions disperse a multitude of small munitions over a very wide area. Some remain unexploded and can kill years later, as can mines.