Washington: Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced on Friday that it had found fresh proof of Ukrainian forces' indiscriminate use of illegal anti-personnel land mines against Russian invaders of Ukraine in 2022.
The group urged the Ukrainian government to uphold a pledge it made earlier this month not to use such weapons, look into any reports of their possible use, and hold those responsible accountable.
According to Steve Goose, the arms director for Human Rights Watch, "the Ukrainian government's commitment to look into its military's alleged use of prohibited anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians."
In a letter sent to the Ukrainian government in May, HRW claimed to have shared its findings; however, it received no response.
An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by the Ukrainian embassy in Washington. A 1997 international agreement that forbade such mines and required the destruction of any stocks of the weapons was ratified by Ukraine in 2005.
The use of anti-personnel mines by Russia, which did not sign the treaty, "violates international humanitarian law... because they are inherently indiscriminate," according to the report.
Anti-personnel mines can kill and maim long after a conflict is over because they are set off by a person's presence, proximity, or contact. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, HRW has released four reports detailing the use of 13 different anti-personnel mines by Russian forces that resulted in civilian deaths and injuries.
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The new report is a follow-up to a January report that stated that between April and September 2022, when Kyiv's forces retook the eastern city of Izium, Ukrainian soldiers fired rockets that dispersed thousands of PMF-1 mines in Russian-occupied areas in and around Izium.
According to the most recent report, images of the warheads of Uragan 220mm rockets posted online by a person who works in eastern Ukraine provide new proof of the use of anti-personnel mines by Ukrainian forces in 2002.
According to the report, each of these rockets releases 312 PFM-1S anti-personnel mines randomly.
One warhead's handwriting was analysed, and it was discovered that the first word was the Ukrainian word for "from," while a second Latin alphabet word had to do with a Kyiv-based organisation that the report failed to name.
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The organization's leader, who was also anonymous, posted on social media "indicating that they had donated funds to the Ukrainian military via a non-governmental organisation (NGO)."
According to the report, images of nuclear warheads with messages written in Ukrainian that were posted online were connected to another group with a base in Ukraine.