On Monday, the Human Rights Watched released an article describing the illegal use of cluster munitions by the Ukrainian military.
The conflict in Ukraine between Pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military has brought much turmoil and violence to the region, especially in Eastern Ukraine. Use of cluster munitions, a weapon banned in over a hundred countries, would complicate efforts at resolving the conflict.
The Human Rights Watch reported that there is strong evidence of cluster munitions usage in Eastern Ukraine by the Ukrainian government in early October. The city of Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine, with a peacetime population of 1 million, has suffered from at least a dozen cluster munitions incidents on October 2 and October 5.
Cluster munitions are usually fired in the form of a rocket or a bomb, and contain smaller munitions inside that are dispersed from the rocket or bomb and explode on impact. The smaller munitions can spread over the area of a football field. However, not all the munitions explode and thus act as active landmines. Cluster munitions cannot be used with accuracy and do not allow for distinction between civilian and military victims. The weapon poses a large threat to civilian populations and was thus banned in 2008 by the Convention on Cluster Munitions signed by 114 countries. The Ukraine did not sign this treaty.
The Human Rights Watch has documented six deaths and dozens of injuries among Donetsk civilians due to the weapon. Although the Ukrainian government denies using the cluster munitions, evidence reveals otherwise. New York Times reported cluster munitions duds found in fields near Donetsk that show the trajectory having originated from a Ukrainian base south of the city. Witnesses also claim to have seen rockets fired from the base on October 2 and October 5, the days of the cluster munitions incidents.
Mark Hiznay, senior arms researcher for the Human Rights Watch, said, “It is shocking to see a weapon that most countries have banned used so extensively in eastern Ukraine … Ukrainian authorities should make an immediate commitment not to use cluster munitions and join the treaty to ban them.”
The Ukraine government may face charges of war crimes due to the use of these cluster munitions. Although it is unconfirmed, the Human Rights Watch stated that there is evidence suggesting that rebel forces in Ukraine have also used cluster munitions.
