The photo shows what appears to be part of a cluster bomb container buried in the playground of an apartment building in northern Kharkiv. JULIAN SIMMONDS War in Ukraine — Selected Articles
Unexploded rockets sticking out of sidewalks, stuck in apartments and half buried in playgrounds, dot Ukraine.
But lots of gray shells, tails and everything. shown in videos and social media posts around the country are likely a sign that Russia is using devastating indiscriminate cluster bombs.
There is growing evidence that Russia is using missiles that carry submunitions and then spread and detonate over a larger area, increasing potential damage and civilian casualties.
After the submunitions were dropped, The rocket engine and warhead carrying the payload continue to move along their trajectory, often sticking into the ground.
Amnesty International claims that cluster bombs hit a kindergarten in northwestern Ukraine on Friday, February 25, killing three people, including a child.
Amnesty stated that the attack “appears to have been carried out by Russian forces that were operating nearby and have experience using cluster munitions in populated areas.”
“There is no possible justification for dropping cluster munitions in communities, not to mention the school district,” said Secretary General Agnes Callamard.
How cluster bombs cause so much destruction
Open-source investigative reporters, Bellingcat, say Kharkiv, subjected to devastating bombing drills on February 28, was the target of «multiple cluster munition attacks» following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
«Images and videos posted online show more increased use of these weapons in civilian areas,” Bellingcat said, playing a dashcam footage of a driver trying to avoid a hail of bombs in Kharkiv.
“This section of the highway passes through a residential area and is next to a children’s hospital,” Bellingcat said.
Human Rights Watch reported on February 25 that Russian cluster munitions hit a hospital in Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine, causing four civilians were killed and 10 were injured, including six medical workers.
Some of the videos showing today's indiscriminate bombing of Russian homes in Kharkiv are too graphic to share here.
This one, while not graphic, is haunting in its own right.
People walking through a park flee as cluster munitions explode around them. pic.twitter.com/qOnk5rYNel
— Giancarlo Fiorella (@gianfiorella) February 28, 2022
«This heartless attack killed and injured civilians and damaged the hospital,» said Steven Goose .
Hospitals and schools enjoy special protection under the Geneva Convention. Violation of the convention could be grounds for prosecution in the International Criminal Court.
Clip from video showing a possible cluster bomb attack on a building in Kharkov during ceasefire negotiations. Photo: Jack Losh
Lawyers will have to prove one of the many possible charges, including «deliberately targeting civilian objects, that is, objects that are not military objectives.»
But it is extremely difficult to prove this.
In addition, more than 100 countries signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the production and use of these weapons, but not Russia and Ukraine.
Cluster bombs were designed to destroy groups of infantry in open areas. , destroy columns of poorly protected vehicles or craters on runways.
Fighting in built-up areas invariably results in civilian deaths, with one side alleging that it was a deliberate act, while the other alleging that such actions were accidental or the unfortunate consequence of the victims being close to legitimate military targets.
Children in danger. cluster munitions after combat
Cluster bombs can explode on impact or remain on the ground for a certain period of time before detonating.
They can blockade areas, as any advancing forces won't know that munitions left on the ground are about to explode or fail.
The gray casing of a suspected cluster bomb lies in a house in Kharkov after a Russian military strike
Many children have been maimed and killed over the years by cluster munitions left over from the end of hostilities.
Everything appears there is more evidence that Russian forces fired cluster bombs from the BM-27 Uragan and BM-30 Smerch self-propelled multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).
Each of these vehicles fire rockets. with cargo warheads containing submunitions.
The containers separate from the rocket engine during the flight of the missile, dispersing the submunitions, which then fall under the force of gravity.
Britain has removed cluster bombs from its arsenal in May 2008 and destroyed all 190,828 missiles and 38.7 submunitions by December 2013.
This article is updated with the latest information.
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