The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch accused the Armed Forces of Ukraine of using “petal” anti-personnel mines in the Kharkiv region during the occupation of these territories by Russian troops. This is stated in their report for January 31.
The organization claims to have documented “numerous cases” when rockets with PFM anti-personnel mines (“petal mines”) were fired at territories captured by the occupiers near Russian military installations.
What is the HRW report about
Human Rights Watch stressed that Ukraine is a state party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits any use of anti-personnel mines.
Human rights activists noted that Russian troops have used anti-personnel mines in many areas throughout Ukraine, including including victim-activated booby traps since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
HRW has previously published three reports documenting the use of anti-personnel mines by Russian forces in Ukraine in 2022.
< h2 class="news-subtitle cke-markup">Marked Crimea as Russian
Ukrainian troops appear to have been throwing mines in the Izyum area, causing civilian casualties and a constant threat. Russian troops have repeatedly used anti-personnel mines and committed atrocities across the country, but this does not justify Ukraine's use of these banned weapons, said Steve Gus, director of weapons at Human Rights Watch.
Note that, in addition, this report also published a map on which Crimea was originally designated as a territory of Russia.
Subsequently, Human Rights Watch representative Andrew Stroline apologized for designating Crimea as part of Russia, emphasizing that Crimea – this is Ukraine, and the mistake will be corrected.
Lubinets reaction
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets commented on the Human Rights Watch report on the use of anti-personnel mines by Ukraine. He noted that “the use of anti-personnel mines is indeed a problem, because in 9 years the territory of Ukraine has become the most contaminated in the world with these mines. Obviously, this poses a great threat to civilians.”
I will explain one important thing – this problem exists because Ukraine has been confronting the enemy since 2014. An enemy that has a lot more different weapons and uses its entire arsenal against our people,” he said.
According to him, Ukraine turned to the UN, which cannot fully guarantee the implementation of the Ottawa Convention (Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction) in connection with the war back in 2018. Russia, in turn, is not a party to this convention, Lubinets notes.
“Therefore, in order to resist the cruel and cynical aggressor, who resorts to all barbaric methods and does not comply with any norms of international humanitarian law, Ukraine needs more precision-guided Western weapons,” the Ombudsman said.
He added that it makes no difference to Russia what to use. After all, its goal is the destruction of Ukrainians.
“A few days ago, on January 25, the Russians fired on the 8-storey buildings of Bakhmut with thermobaric ammunition, firing 24 rockets from the Solntsepek system into the city. The Russian Federation also used mines POM-3” Medallion “which, due to the presence of a seismic sensor, explode when a person approaches it” kill within a radius of 16 meters, “Lubinets emphasized.
How the Foreign Ministry reacted
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry noted that they fully fulfill their international obligations against the backdrop of war crimes by the Russian occupiers and their commission of crimes against humanity and genocide of the Ukrainian people.
The Foreign Ministry noted that the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention) and the Convention on the Prohibition or Restriction of the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW ) are important international instruments to ban such an inhumane type of weapon as anti-personnel mines.
Ukrainian diplomats stressed that the events of the past year prove that now, more than ever, it is important to universalize these multilateral mechanisms in the field of disarmament and control over weapons.
The Foreign Ministry expects additional pressure on Russia
“We expect that HRW, together with its international partners from non-governmental organizations and the entire world community, will intensify efforts in this direction, in particular, by putting pressure on the Russian Federation in order to immediately stop the criminal war against Ukraine using the entire range of inhumane weapons and returning Russia to the international legal field,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry recalled that with the Ottawa Convention, Ukraine has already destroyed 3 million anti-personnel mines, including including stockpiles of extremely dangerous POM-3 mines.
“Russia, having attacked Ukraine, has used and continues to use the entire range of prohibited mines, including POM-3 Medallion, which is especially dangerous for civilian mines,” the statement said. MFA.
The ministry emphasized that Ukraine has always shown openness to cooperation with international non-governmental organizations, in particular, only last year a number of meetings were held with HRW representatives.
