The Russian Federation does not give up its intentions to destroy Ukraine by mass shelling of civilians. Having no success on the battlefield, it continues to use terror, thereby violating the norms of international humanitarian law.
Faced with significant resistance from Ukraine, Russia is increasingly relying on shelling cities and civilians with banned munitions that is equal to war crimes.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights last year officially claimed that there have been reliable facts on the use of cluster munitions by Russia in the settlements of Ukraine, and that the indiscriminate use of such weapons can be considered as war crimes. These munitions consist of hundreds of mini-bombs, which can explode over vast areas as a result of the explosion. Often civilians, including children, become victims of these weapons. The unexploded parts of cluster munitions can pose a risk to civilians for decades after the end of a war.
Russia began to use banned weapons en masse from the very beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, Russia used the 9M79-series Tochka ballistic missile with a 9N123 cluster munition warhead to destroy the Central City Hospital of the city of Vuhledar.
One of the latest cases of Russia’s criminal use of cluster munitions in Ukraine was the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, where a Russian missile attack killed 2 and injured 10 civilians.
Russia does not limited to strikes against settlements in the frontline zone. Shelling of the Ukrainian-Russian border with artillery, small arms and even aircraft occurs more frequently. A significant number of civilian infrastructure was damaged as a result of the recent massive mortar attack on the settlements of the Chernihiv and Sumy regions.
Thus, Ukraine increasingly needs supplies of weapons from Western partners that can repel Russian strikes. Today, Russia has become synonymous with terror and must suffer a just punishment for all its crimes against the Ukrainian people.