UN sees ‘increasing evidence’ of war crimes in Ukraine

The United Nations Office for Human Rights go “mounting evidence” from war crimes in Ukrainewhere “the Russian armed forces have indiscriminately bombed populated areas, killing civilians and destroying hospitals, schools” and other non-military infrastructure.

In the eight weeks of conflict“international humanitarian law has not only been ignored but totally abandoned,” said this Friday in a statement the UN High Commissioner for Human Rightsthe Chilean Michelle Bachelet. “For the past eight weeks, international humanitarian law has not only been ignored, it has been thrown overboard,” she added.

The attack on the Kramatorsk railway station on April 8, which caused the death of 60 people and wounded another 111, symbolizes the lack of respect for international laws that prohibit indiscriminate military actions of this type, indicated the high commissioner.

Along with these attacks, which in themselves would constitute war crimes under international law, “the scale of the summary executions of civilians in areas previously occupied by Russian forces” is becoming known in greater detail, the former Chilean president, while calling for efforts to preserve the tests of these crimes, dignified treatment of mortal remains Y psychological help for survivors and their families.

In one of the first places where these summary executions were reported, the town of Bucha, located some 30 kilometers from kyiv, United Nations human rights officials documented the murder of at least 50 civiliansafter visiting the place on April 9.

“Almost all the residents of Bucha with whom these experts spoke reported the death of one of their relatives, neighbors or other people,” said Bachelet, who stressed that this town is not an isolated case and many others suffered massacres from this type.

The Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukrainecarried out in early April, has documented the deaths of at least 2,345 civilians and 2,919 wounded during the war, although Bachelet stressed that the real number of victims “could increase much more when the horrors come to light in areas of intense confrontation, such as Mariúpol.” UN teams have documented that 92.3% of the casualties “are attributed to Russian forces.”

The high commissioner has also received numerous complaints of attacks on medical facilities, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, torture and mistreatment. “Our work so far relates a horror story and violations against civilians,” summarized Bachelet, who indicated that “this senseless war must end, and if it does not, at least all parties must clearly instruct their forces to respect international humanitarian law.”