RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES & HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS IN UKRAINE

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

IRINA MIROCHNIK

Summary update as of January 18, 2023

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.

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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 January 18, 2023, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 459 children were killed and more than 909 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 by Russian military on January 17, and 9 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

On January 17, the Russians wounded 2 civilians of Donetsk region. This was reported by the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

During the past day, Russian troops shelled 12 populated points in Donetsk region 34 times. The occupiers fired from rocket systems, “Grad” MLRSs, tube artillery, and tanks. 10 civilian objects were destroyed and damaged – 4 residential buildings, a school, a hospital, a factory, a critical infrastructure object, an administrative building, a garage.

Dnipro and Region

On the night of January 18, the Russians covered the Nikopol district of the Dnipro region with fire from heavy artillery three times. More than two dozen enemy shells hit the Marganets and Chervonohryhorivka communities. This was reported by the head of the Dnipro regional military administration Valentyn Reznichenko. According to him, houses and power lines were damaged.

The number of injured as a result of a missile attack in the Dnipro increased to 80 people: an elderly woman who asked for help was hospitalized. There are currently 25 injured people, including three children, in Dnipro hospitals. 17 people remain missing. This was reported in the Dnipro regional military admin- istration.

Experts are trying to identify 12 body fragments.
Also, according to the administration, about 400 Ukrainians were left homeless as a result of the terrorist attack. In total, of the 18 blocks of the building, four are almost completely unsuitable for living.

Kharkiv and Region

Yesterday, the enemy massively shelled populated areas in three districts of the region along the entire line of contact. This was announced by the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration Oleh Synegubov.

According to him, as a result of a rocket attack on Kupiansk, the building of the Automotive Transport College was destroyed. Garages and other non- residential premises were also damaged in the city. There are hits in the private sector in the village of Dvorichna. At least 4 private houses were damaged in Vilcha village of Chuhuiv district.

In the village of Kivsharivka, Kupiansk district, shelling damaged the local hospital. A 51-year-old paramedic was injured. Hospitalized in moderate condition.

Kherson and Region

During January 17, the Russian occupying forces opened fire 83 times on populated areas of the Kherson region with MLRSs, tube artillery, mortars, tanks and drones. This was announced by the head of the Kherson regional military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevich.

Out of this number, Kherson came under the fire of the occupiers 26 times. Russian shells damaged a critical infrastructure facility and residential buildings in the city. As a result of the criminal actions of the Russians, four people received injuries of varying degrees of severity over the past day.

Mykolaiv and Region

On the evening of January 17, Russian troops shelled the Ochakiv community (Mykolaiv region). Residential buildings were damaged as a result of the attacks. This was announced by the head of the Mykolaiv regional military admin- istration Vitaliy Kim.

As of January 18, since the beginning of the Russian invasion, 15,394 civilian objects have been partially or completely damaged in the Mykolaiv region (+22 in the past day).
Of them:

– housing stock objects – 10119; – medical institutions – 97;
– educational institutions – 409; – cultural institutions – 190;

– facilities of industrial enterprises – 190;
– life support facilities: gas – 1112, electricity – 924, water – 32, heat supply – 96; – other non-military objects – 2225.
Currently, 5,437 consumers remain without gas supply.
Electricity supply, water supply, and drainage were stopped in 49 populated areas of the region.

Zaporizhzhia and Region

Over the past day, the occupiers shelled civilian infrastructure 171 times in the area of 26 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region. This was reported in the morning summary of the regional military administration.
A total of 22 reports were received about the destruction of houses (apartments) of citizens and infrastructure objects as a result of shelling by Russian troops.

The Russian occupiers continue to block the exit of the population to territories controlled by Ukraine. The mayor of Melitopol Fedorov announced this on January 18. According to him, since December 15, the only way out of the occupation through the city of Vasylivka in the direction of Zaporizhzhia has been closed.

Fedorov noted that children, women and the elderly were allowed to walk 10 km of the “road of life” by foot. The mayor also said that there are facts when Ukrainians who tried to leave the occupation in the direction of Zaporizhzhia go missing. They are kicked out of their houses with almost no belongings, in only slippers and forced to reach the gray zone on foot.

However, people do not reach the crossing, where the Ukrainian side is waiting for them. Where Ukrainians are actually being sent remains unknown.

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)]

19-01-2023

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