RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES AND HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS AGAINST UKRAINE

RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES AND HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS IN THE WAR AGAINST UKRAINE

IRINA MIROCHNIK

Summary update as of December 23, 2022

The use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians is a crime against humanity and a violation of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949.

By killing civilians, the aggressor’s forces continue to commit crimes against humanity as defined by the Statute of the International Military Tribunal and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, cynically disregarding all the requirements of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. According to these norms, deliberate attacks on civilians who are not directly involved in hostilities are equated to war crimes.

The taking of civilian hostages is a direct violation of Articles 3 and 34 of the Geneva Convention with regard to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

As of December 23, 2022, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 450 children were killed and more than 867 children have been injured. Due to the active hostilities in affected regions, there is no possibility to inspect the areas of shelling and destruction.

In Ukraine, 5 civilians were killed in the past day on December 22, and 18 more were injured. This was announced by the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko based on the data of the regional military administrations.

Donetsk and Luhansk Region

As of the morning of Friday, December 23, Russian occupiers killed 4 residents of Donetsk region in one day. 7 more were injured. This was reported by the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
A total of 1,279 people have been killed in Donetsk region since February 24, and another 2,780 have been injured.

Donetsk police documented 20 Russian war crimes per day in the region. The occupiers carried out fire attacks on 10 settlements. 16 civilian objects were destroyed and damaged – 9 residential buildings, a boarding school, a kindergarten, factories, an economic enterprise, critical infrastructure objects.

RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES AND HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS AGAINST UKRAINE

Kharkiv and Region

The police exhumed the bodies of a mother and son who died on the territory of their own home on March 15 as a result of enemy shelling in the village of Ruska Lozova, Kharkiv region. This was reported by the National Police in the Kharkiv region.

Kherson and Region

On the morning of December 23, Russian troops shelled Kherson with MLRSs. Two people died, residential buildings and critical infrastructure objects were damaged. This is reported by the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

During December 22, the Russian invaders shelled the territory of the Kherson region 61 times. This was announced by the head of the Kherson regional military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevich. The invaders attacked the peaceful settlements of the region with artillery, MLRSs, mortars and tanks. Russian shells hit educational institutions, private and apartment buildings.

As a result of Russian shelling last day, 1 person died, 2 residents of the Kherson region were injured of varying degrees of severity.

Mykolaiv and Region

As of December 23, since the beginning of the Russian invasion, 14,319 civilian objects have been partially or completely damaged in the Mykolaiv region (+22 in the past 10 days). This was reported in the press service of the Mykolaiv regional military administration. 5,993 consumers remain without gas supply.

Electricity supply, water supply, and drainage were stopped in 69 settlements of the region.

As reported by the State Emergency Service in the Mykolaiv region, there is not a single surviving house left in the village of Blagodatne due to Russian shelling and active hostilities.

Sumy and Region

Russian occupiers shelled a border village of Sumy region with mortars the day before. This was announced by the head of the regional military administration, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi.
According to him, direct hits to the roof of the House of Culture were recorded. The explosions significantly damaged two private houses. Enemy mines also damaged a local store and power lines.

Zaporizhzhia and Region

In the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian invaders shelled civilian infrastructure in the area of 18 settlements. This is reported by the Zaporizhzhia regional military admin- istration. 27 reports were received about the destruction of houses (apartments) of citizens and infrastructure objects as a result of shelling.

As a result of the Russian shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region, two children aged three and fifteen were injured – the wall of the house collapsed on them as a result of a direct hit by a Russian rocket. Oleksandr Starukh, the head of the Za- porizhzhia regional military administration, announced this.

Confirmed: Sources: Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Office of the Prosecutor General, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, State Emergency Service, National Police, relevant city and town councils and regional state administrations, Government Office for the Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.

[Writer Irina Mirochnik is the President at IMMER Group & Doctor of Philosophy in Law(PhD)]

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