KIEV: Amnesty International has accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, claiming that attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, have killed hundreds of people, many of whom were murdered with banned cluster bombs.

According to reports, the rights group made the remark in a report titled "Anyone Can Die At Any Time."  "The repeated bombardments of Kharkiv's residential neighbourhoods are indiscriminate attacks that have killed and injured hundreds of people, and thus constitute war crimes," the report said. "This is true for strikes that use cluster (munitions) as well as strikes that use other forms of unguided rockets and unguided artillery shells."

"The persistent employment of such inaccurate explosive weapons in populated civilian areas, knowing that they are frequently causing huge numbers of civilian casualties, may even amount to directing assaults against the civilian population," the report stated.

Amnesty International reportedly said it had found proof in Kharkiv of Russian forces using 9N210 and 9N235 cluster bombs and scatterable land mines, all of which are forbidden under international conventions.

Cluster bombs disperse dozens of bomblets or grenades over hundreds of square metres as they detonate in mid-air.

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