Michelle Bachelet discusses mounting evidence of war crimes in Ukraine


ZURICH (Reuters) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday there was growing evidence of actions by Russian forces in Ukraine that may amount to war crimes .

“Russian armed forces indiscriminately bombarded and shelled populated areas, killing civilians and destroying hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, actions that may amount to war crimes,” said Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

UN observers in Ukraine have also documented what appears to be the use of indiscriminate weapons by Ukrainian armed forces in the east of the country, which reportedly resulted in civilian casualties, she said in a statement.

Russia describes its offensive in Ukraine as a “special military operation” aimed at disarming and “denazifying” the country and denies targeting civilians or committing war crimes.

According to the OHCHR, its observers recorded 5,264 civilian victims – 2,345 killed and 2,919 injured – in Ukraine between February 24, the date of the start of the war, and April 20.

Of these, 92.3% were recorded in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and 7.7% in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, two cities of Donbass controlled by the Russian armed forces and pro-separatist groups. Russians, he added.

“We know that the real numbers will be much higher as the horrors inflicted in areas of intense combat, such as Mariupol, are revealed,” warned Michelle Bachelet.

The UN documented during a mission to Boutcha on April 9, the murder, including by summary execution, of at least 50 civilians.

The United Nations also says it received more than 300 allegations of killings of civilians in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions, all under the control of Russian armed forces in late February and early March.

UN observers are also looking into allegations of sexual violence committed by members of the Russian forces and reports of possible unlawful detentions of civilians by both sides.

Asked about the allegations of genocide – made in particular by US President Joe Biden – OHCHR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani, however, said the agency had not found information to support them.

“A lot of these legal qualifications – crimes against humanity and genocide – have to be determined by a court of law, but no, we haven’t documented any patterns that might be like that,” she said.

(Report Michael Shields, French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Kate Entringer)



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