RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES AND HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS IN THE WAR AGAINST UKRAINE
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
Summary update as of June 05, 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.
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 June 05, 2023, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 485 children were killed and more than 1005 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, at least 17 civilians were killed and 68 more were injured by Russian military over the period of June 02-04, as a result of Russian aggression. Information is based on the data of the regional military administrations.
Russia has been committing war crimes against the environment since the first days of the full-scale invasion. The total amount of damage to the environment as a result of the actions of the aggressor state amounts to UAH 1,970 billion.
The area of the territory contaminated by explosive objects is 174,000 square meters. According to this indicator, Ukraine is the first in the world.
2 million hectares of forests and 20% of protected areas were damaged by pollution, fires, and mines.
As a result of missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy systems, an emergency shutdown of all four Ukrainian nuclear power plants was recorded for the first time in history.
In connection with the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine, 1,520 objects of cultural infrastructure have already been damaged, almost a third of them have been destroyed, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy reports. In total, the following were affected: club establishments – 727; libraries – 571; museums and galleries – 82; theaters and philharmonics – 25; art education institutions – 115.
Donetsk and Luhansk Region
Over the past day, Russian troops have struck 21 strikes against the civilian population of Donetsk region. This is reported by the National Police. As a result of enemy shelling, 4 civilians were killed and 8 more were wounded.
15 settlements were shelled. The enemy used “Iskander” missile systems, rockets, “Smerch”, “Uragan”, and “Grad” MLRSs, tube artillery, mortars, and tanks. 36 civilian objects were destroyed and damaged – 18 residential buildings, a hospital, a school, a music school, a lyceum, cultural centers, factories, a shopping center, a store, an outbuilding, a garage, transport, a gas pipeline.
On June 5, Russian troops shelled Toretsk. According to preliminary data, the Russian army carried out 2 strikes on the city center using FAB-250. As a result of the shelling, two women and one man received shrapnel wounds. In addition, three law enforcement officers who were driving by were injured while on duty. The explosion also damaged an educational institution, residential high-rise buildings, civil infrastructure, an administrative building, and bank premises.
On June 3, 2023, the Russian army shelled the cities of Hirnyk, Siversk and the town of New York. Again, the Russian Federation probably used tube artillery and “Uragan” MLRS against the civilian population.
In the city of New York, as a result of shells hitting a multi-story building near the entrance, two women died – both were 64 years old. Another woman, 63 years old, died during shelling of Siversk. A 75-year-old pensioner was also injured and is in an extremely serious condition.
On the same day, the body of a dead 61-year-old man was found in Hirnyk, near the shell-damaged cultural institution. Seven more townspeople – four women, a man and two boys aged 15 and 16 were injured. They were taken to a medical facility with severe mine-explosive injuries, shrapnel wounds and other bodily injuries of varying degrees of severity.
In addition, the explosions damaged the residential buildings of settlements, farm buildings and other objects.
Dnipro and Region
On June 3, the occupiers struck the Pidhorodne community of the Dnipro district. As a result of missile attack by the Russian military, a 2-year-old girl died and five children aged 6 to 17 were injured.
According to preliminary data, a total of 22 people were injured. More than 10 private houses, a rescue unit, citizens’ cars, shops and a gas pipeline were damaged.
Kharkiv and Region
On June 5, servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation once again shelled Kupiansk. According to previous information, shelling was carried out with MLRSs. Residential buildings, a garage and a hospital laboratory building were damaged.
On May 4, the Russian military launched a missile attack on Chuhuiv. According to preliminary information, two S-300 missiles were fired at the city. Private houses, commercial buildings and cars were damaged.
On June 4, the Russian military once again shelled Vovchansk. Two civilians were killed as a result of enemy strikes. Residents’ residential buildings were damaged. On the same day, servicemen of Russian army shelled the village of Pishchane in the Kupiansk district. A local resident was injured. In addition, the village of Zolochiv, Bogoduhiv district, was attacked. According to the previous day’s data, the shelling was carried out by artillery. The house of children’s and youth creativity was damaged. Two people were injured.
On June 2, the Russian military shelled the village of Kivsharivka in the Kupiansk district. A man and a woman died. Three civilians and a 3-year-old boy were injured.
On the same day, the occupiers shelled the front-line village of Dvorichna in the Kupiansk district. According to preliminary data, the shelling was fired from a tank. A 63-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man were injured.
On June 2, between the villages of Liutivka and Lemishchene of the Kharkiv region, a car with a family ran into an explosive device and exploded. Two girls aged 12 and 15 and a 12-year-old boy who were in the car were injured.
Kherson and Region
According to the information of the Kherson regional military administration, the Russian occupiers shelled peaceful settlements in the Kherson region 28 times in the past day. 176 shells were fired from artillery, mortars, aviation, “Grad” MLRSs and drones. The Russian military targeted the residential quarters of the populated areas of the region; the territory and buildings of the plant and utility enterprise of Beryslav district. Due to Russian aggression, 2 people were injured.
On the night of June 5, the Russian military once again began shelling the residential quarters of the city of Kherson. According to preliminary data, the fire was fired from MLRSs. As a result of the shelling, one civilian received deadly injuries. High-rise buildings, private houses, cars of local residents were damaged.
On June 2, an explosive device left by Russian troops detonated on a children’s playground in the village of Zagorianivka, Bilozersk community. As a result of this injury, two minor boys were injured. They were hospitalized.
Sumy and Region
On June 2, occupiers from the territory of the Russian Federation fired mortars at the Khotyn community in Sumy region. An 85-year-old man, who was in his own backyard, received fatal injuries. Private houses were also damaged as a result of shelling.
Zaporizhzhia and Region
On June 4, Russian troops fired 71 times at 19 front-line populated points in the Zaporizhzhia region, said the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, Yuriy Malashko. Law enforcement officers recorded 12 destructions of homes and residents’ property.
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