Russian shelling of several cities in Ukraine on Monday “may have violated” the laws of war and amounted to war crimes if “intentionally directed” at civilian targets, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
“We urge Russia to refrain from any escalation” of violence, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Ravina Shamdasani, told a conference at the UN headquarters in Geneva.
The organization considers the targets hit -civilian targets- to be particularly worrying, as well as the time chosen to bomb the targets in Ukraine, during times of great movement of people in the streets.
The UN human rights office confirmed today that at least 12 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Monday’s Russian shelling of Ukrainian cities, stressing that many of the projectiles were aimed at civilian targets, in violation of international law.
The Ukrainian authorities have advanced higher figures of victims, with 19 dead and 105 injured.
The spokeswoman said the strikes in kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Sumy and other areas damaged at least 12 power infrastructures and some were destroyed, another indication of deliberate attacks on civilian targets.
“These attacks, with winter just around the corner, raise concerns about the safety of civilians and vulnerable populations,” warned Shamdasani, who stressed that attacking infrastructure essential for the survival of the population “is prohibited by international law. humanitarian”.
“We urge the Russian Federation to refrain from further escalation of the conflict and urge it to take all necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties and damage to non-military infrastructure,” the spokeswoman concluded.
Russian missiles, rockets and drones rained down on Ukraine in retaliation for the “terrorist” attack, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which partially destroyed the bridge connecting Russia with the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.6 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from the UN, which places this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the generality of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia. political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war 6,221 dead and 9,371 wounded civilians, underlining that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
