RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES & HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS AGAINST UKRAINE

RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES & HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS

IRINA MIROCHNIK

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

Summary update as of October 29, 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 de- fined by the Statute of the International Military Tribunal and the Rome Statute of the Interna- tional 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 October 29, 2022, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 430 children have died and more than 823 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, 10 civilians were killed in the past day, October 28, and 10 more were wounded. 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.

2,688 educational institutions were damaged due to bombing and shelling by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. 331 of them were completely destroyed.

Donetsk and Luhansk Region

Over the past day, on October 28, Russian invaders killed three civilians of Donetsk region. This was reported by the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko. It is also known that 8 people were injured in the past day. In particular, on October 28, a 13-year-old girl was injured as a result of enemy shelling in the village of Bakhmutske, Donetsk region.

In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, 1,115 people have been killed and 2,491 wounded in Donetsk region.

In one day, 15 settlements were shelled in Donetsk region. This was reported to the regional police. The occupying forces attacked the civilian population 29 times with tube artillery, “Grad”, “Uragan” MLRSs, and mortars. 5 residential buildings and a kindergarten were destroyed and damaged. In Bakhmut, the Russians destroyed the historic building of the College of Transport Infrastructure, which was more than 120 years old.

Kharkiv and Region

In the Kharkiv region, forensic experts recovered the bodies of three people who died in the Kupiansk district in September 2022 during the Russian occupation. This was reported in the National Police of the Kharkiv region.

During the past day, the enemy shelled the settlements of Chuhuiv, Kharkiv, and Kupiansk districts in Kharkiv region. This was reported by the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration Oleh Synegubov. According to him, in the city of Vovchansk, as a result of shelling, a household building was damaged, in the village of Dvorichna – residential buildings were affected, fires broke out.

According to the Regional Emergency Medical Center, 2 women aged 43 and 40, as well as a 60-year-old man, were injured in the Kupiansk district.

In addition, demining continues in the territories liberated from the enemy. During the day, the pyrotechnic units of the State Emergency Service defused 413 explosive objects.

Mykolaiv and Region

Russian troops shelled three territorial communities of the region yesterday, there were wounded people and critical infrastructure was damaged, reported the head of the regional military administration, Vitaliy Kim.

In particular, in the Mykolaiv district, four people were injured due to enemy shelling. The power line was also damaged.

In Shyroke community, two residential buildings were destroyed by Russian shelling, and three more were damaged.

A total of 12,773 civilian objects have been partially damaged or completely destroyed in the Mykolaiv region since the beginning of the full-scale invasion (+44 over the past day). Of them, there are 8,188 residential buildings, 89 medical facilities, 383 educational institutions, 183 cultural facilities, and 185 industrial enterprises.

This was reported by the Mykolaiv regional military administration. As of October 29, 975 gas supply facilities, 730 electricity supply facilities, 30 water supply facilities, and 96 heat supply facilities were damaged. 6,612 consumers remain without gas supply. 1,914 other non- military objects were also damaged or destroyed.

Ukraine4 1 — Policemen work on the identification process following the killing of civilians in Bucha, before sending the bodies to the morgue, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine

Dnipro and Region

During the night of October 29, the Russian occupiers shelled the Nikopol district, as a result of which one man was wounded.

This was announced by the head of the regional military administration Valentyn Reznichenko. According to his data, three communities of Dnipro region – Niko- pol, Marganets and Myrove – came under enemy fire that night. In Nikopol, 8 high-rise and private buildings, several shops, a furniture factory, a hotel, a bus stop, a gas pipeline and electricity networks were damaged. Russian projectiles also caused a fire at the gas station and in the garage cooperative.

Zaporizhzhia and Region

On October 28, Russian troops shelled the settlements of Polohy and Vasylivka districts. In particular, the occupiers shelled the homes of the residents of Huliai- pole with MLRS and tube artillery, the National Police informs. About two dozen houses were damaged.

In the Orikhiv region, Russian shelling destroyed the homes of local residents and damaged cars.

In the village of Prymorske, the occupiers damaged several houses and out- buildings. As a result of the shelling, two people were injured there.

In total, Russian troops shelled 12 settlements in the region last day. 14 reports were received about the destruction of houses (apartments) of citizens and in- frastructure objects as a result of Russian shelling.