russians use forbidden cluster munitions in populated areas of Ukraine – UN

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The UN human rights office said it had received credible reports of several cases of russian forces using cluster bombs in Ukraine, including in populated areas.

“On 24 February, a cluster munition exploded at the Central City Hospital in Vuhledar, in government-controlled Donetsk, killing four civilians, injuring 10 others, and damaging ambulances, civilian vehicles and the hospital itself. There were other cluster munition attacks in several districts of Kharkiv, in which nine civilians were killed and 37 injured,”  UN spokesperson Liz Throssell said in a statement.

“Civilian casualties are rising daily, as is general human suffering. We remind the russian authorities that directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as so-called area bombardment in towns and villages and other forms of indiscriminate attacks, are prohibited under international law and may amount to war crimes,” she added.

Due to their wide-area effects, the use of cluster munitions in populated areas is incompatible with the international humanitarian law principles governing the conduct of hostilities.

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