RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES & HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS AGAINST UKRAINE

WAR CRIMES

From Irina Mirochnik

RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES AND HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS IN THE WAR AGAINST UKRAINE, June 03, 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.

Russia violates international humanitarian law, including the UN General Assembly Resolution on the Militarization of the Temporarily Occupied Peninsula, the IV Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and commits war crimes under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

As of June 06, 2022, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 262 children have died and more than 467 children have been injured. Due to the active hostilities in affected regions, there is no possibility to inspect the areas of shelling and destruction. The actual data on dead and injured children in these regions are currently being established.

Currently, about 30 Russian ships and submarines are blocking civilian shipping off the coast of Ukraine. 9 civilian ships have already suffered from Russia’s aggressive actions. This was reported by the press service of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

One of the attacked civilian ships sank, killing two sailors.

At the same time, according to the Ukrainian Navy, the Russian Defense Ministry is imitating the organization of so-called humanitarian corridors allegedly for the withdrawal of civilian foreign ships from Ukrainian ports.

Kharkiv and Region

Over the past 24 hours, the occupiers fired at the Saltivsky and Slobidsky districts of Kharkiv, Izyum and Chuguiv districts of the region. In Kharkiv, a residential house was hit. According to preliminary information, no one was injured. This was announced by the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleh Synegubov.

Residential buildings, public buildings, cars, and critical infrastructure are damaged in the region. In the city of Balakliya, Izium district, 1 dead and 7 wounded. In Chuhuiv – 1 dead, 1 wounded. In the Kharkiv district, 1 person was killed in Cherkaska Lozova and 2 were injured in the village of Slobozhanske. In total in the region during the day: 3 dead and 10 wounded.

The Russian military launched a missile strike on critical infrastructure of the Lozova community. The shelling damaged two schools, three kindergartens, high-rise buildings and dormitories where displaced people lived.

This was announced by Lozova Mayor Serhiy Zelenskyi.

The enemy is shelling the Derhachi community in the Kharkiv region, there are dead and wounded, and the main high-pressure gas pipeline has been damaged. As a result, gas supplies to most of the city have been cut off. Citizens are asked to turn off the taps to prevent new emergencies. This was reported by the Derhachi City Council.

On Sunday, June 5, the Russian occupiers again fired on the city of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region. A civilian was killed and another was injured, Mayor of Chuhuiv said.

Donetsk and Luhansk Regions

Over the past 24 hours, on June 5, Russian troops fired on 22 settlements in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The enemy continues to kill the civilian population of the Ukrainian Donbass. At least eight civilians were killed and four were injured. Information on victims and dead is being clarified.

Russian troops destroyed and damaged 56 civilian objects. Among them: 40 residential buildings, a hospital building and two ambulances (Avdiivka), the House of Equipment and Public Reception of Civil-Military Cooperation (Lysychansk), hangars and agricultural machinery of the Ilyus enterprise (Khromove), feed mill and power transformer (Sloviansk), water supply system (Chasiv Yar), garages, cars.

In the temporarily occupied Mariupol, the queue for food that is supposed to be provided by the Russian invaders reaches from 1.5 to 2 thousand people every day. Only up to 400 food kits are issued per day. This was announced by the adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andriushchenko.

According to him, in the heat under the sun, people stand in line for 6 hours in vain. There is no drinking water, nowhere to take it, no shade for shelter.

There is no other way to get food. Every hour in the last days up to 10 people are taken to hospital due to fainting. The stench from the morgue, arranged 200 meters away, is getting worse every day.

Andriushchenko also stressed that the humanitarian situation in Mariupol continues to deteriorate: the city lacks food and water. At the same time, the occupiers stated that from July the so-called “humanitarian aid” will be provided free of charge only to pensioners and people with disabilities.

The occupiers close Mariupol for the quarantine, after it was bombed and occupied by the Russians.

There has been a sharp increase in deaths in the city, and the epidemic could be caused by cholera, said Mariupol Mayor Petro Andriushchenko on June 6. The bodies of the dead are still under rubble, and the situation is complicated by the heat, lack of medicines, medical care and laboratories that can be used to record cases of infection.

Zaporizhzhia and Region

On the night of June 4-5, the Russian military fired on high-rise buildings and private houses in the town of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region. According to preliminary information, six civilians were wounded by shrapnel as a result of the armed attack. This was reported by the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration.

Due to rocket hits, many buildings caught fire, blowing up windows and doors. Damaged dental office and grocery store. Roofs were destroyed, walls were smashed and windows were broken.

Today, June 6, due to damage to power supply lines, support and equipment, 37,213 subscribers in 89 settlements of Zaporizhzhia region remain without power supply. During the night, as a result of enemy shelling, a high-voltage power line was damaged and 4 substations in the service area of the Orikhiv district branch were shut down. As a result, 15,717 homes of local residents were cut off.

At present, there are 75,259 subscribers in the region are without gas supply in 97 settlements. 48 settlements of Berdiansk and Melitopol districts remain disconnected from gas supply due to damage to the main gas pipeline in the Donetsk region.

Last night, as a result of shelling, low and medium pressure gas pipelines in the cities of Huliaipole and Orikhiv were damaged.

This was reported by the press service of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration.

The number of kidnappings committed by the occupiers has increased in the temporarily occupied Energodar in the Zaporizhzhia region. The mayor Dmytro Orlov reports about it.

According to him, during the three months during which Energodar is under Russian occupation, physical and psychological pressure on citizens has increased.

According to him, not only activists, members of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, but also those who resisted the checkpoint during the capture of Energodar are thrown into the basement. According to Orlov, ordinary citizens who do not belong to the above categories fall into captivity. People are held captive for weeks.

Mykolaiv and Region

From the very morning occupiers again chaotically fired at Mykolaiv. Strikes were carried out on residential buildings in various areas of the city where there are no military facilities. According to preliminary information, there are civilian victims and the dead, – said the head of the regional council Anna Zamazeeva.

A total of 29 people were injured in the shelling during the day in Mykolaiv region. All the victims were taken to medical facilities.

In addition, according to police, over the weekend the occupiers damaged 32 civilian infrastructures.

Autonomous Republic of Crimea

The occupier continues to force residents of the TOT of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to serve in the armed forces of the russian federation.

During the spring conscription of 2022, which lasts from April 1 to July 15, the rashist authorities plan to recruit 3,300 people from the Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

The first 16 conscripts were sent to the ground forces at the railway station in St. Petersburg.

Also, on June 3, 2022, a team of conscripts was sent to the russian air and space forces in the city of Rostov-on-Don.

In the racist media, the so-called “military commissar of the peninsula” reported that Crimean conscripts would serve in Russia, but would not be involved in hostilities in Ukraine. According to him, a significant number of recruits will go to training units, given the desire of the men themselves to study the professions of diver, liaison and paratrooper.

At the same time, there is evidence to the contrary – in particular, fresh burials of Crimean servicemen of the aggressor’s army in the cemeteries of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

In total, during the years of occupation of the peninsula, the racist authorities called more than 34 thousand inhabitants.

03-06-2022

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

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