Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog, stands by its report alleging that Ukrainian forces operate near civilians and civilian infrastructure in violation of international laws of war despite a strong outcry.
In the initial report, which was published last week, Amnesty found that many Russian strikes were provoked by Ukrainian units firing from civilian areas. Investigators also claimed that they were using hospitals, schools, and populated residential buildings to house soldiers and military equipment and hide military vehicles. Ukrainian leaders expressed outrage over the report.
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Amnesty investigators, in a statement over the weekend, said they “fully stand by our findings,” though they “regret the pain caused.”
“Amnesty International deeply regrets the distress and anger that our press release on the Ukrainian military’s fighting tactics has caused,” the organization added. “Since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022, Amnesty International has been rigorously documenting and reporting on war crimes and violations committed in Ukraine, speaking to hundreds of victims and survivors whose stories illuminate the brutal reality of Russia’s war of aggression.”
“Nothing we documented Ukrainian forces doing in any way justifies Russian violations,” it stated, referencing Russia’s invasion and its alleged targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said in the original report that it has “documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas. … Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law.”
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Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov accused Russia of committing genocide and said any questions about Ukraine’s resistance to that are “a perversion.”
“The Russians are committing the crime of genocide against the Ukrainian people. Any attempt to question the right of Ukrainians to resist genocide, to protect their families and homes, to protect their lives and the lives of their children, to resist the actions of Russia as a terrorist state, is a perversion, no matter what legal structures disguise it,” he said, according to Euromaidan Press.
