Activities of Russia in Ukraine may amount to war crimes.
The UN said on Friday that Russian activities in Ukraine, which have included summary murders of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, may also amount to war crimes.
“Our work thus far has been a horror story of abuses done against civilians,” said Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on Friday.
“International humanitarian law has not only been ignored but appears to have been swept aside over the last eight weeks,” she said.
“Russian armed troops have shelled and attacked civilian areas indiscriminately, killing civilians and destroying hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure, activities that may amount to war crimes,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.
According to Shamdasani, a UN rights monitoring team in Bucha, near Kyiv, confirmed 50 civilians killed there, including by summary execution.
“Almost every Bucha resident we spoke to informed us about the death of a relative, a neighbour, or even a stranger,” said one of the researchers. We know there’s a lot more work to be done to figure out what happened in Bucha, and we also know it’s not a unique incidence,” Bachelet added.
More than 300 complaints of civilian executions have been received by the UN mission in areas near Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy that were under Russian control until early March.
“It has also documented what appears to be the use of weaponry with indiscriminate effects, resulting in civilian casualties and property damage,” according to the report.