Human Rights Watch (HRW) told RIA Novosti that it has collected evidence of killing of residents of Izyum as a result of Ukrainian shelling by cluster munitions in 2022.
Mary Wareham, the advocacy director of the arms division at the HRW, said that the watchdog published a report on the situation in Izyum in January and saw "evidence that Ukraine was firing cluster ammunitions rockets into the area."
"We found that out after the Russians had left and our researchers went in to look at war crimes and atrocities that have been committed and they saw the remnants of cluster ammunition everywhere. They were told the direction of which they were fired from that we determined that it was separated forces who had used. And we've detailed evidence of civilians, had been killed or wounded in their homes outside their homes and the apartment building, in parks and other areas. So civilian harm there as well," Wareham said.
She added that the US has not provided any details about the type of cluster munitions supplied to Ukraine or the terms of their transfer. Even if an explanation is provided, Wareham argued, the US transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine remains "unacceptable," endangering civilian lives.
"The vast majority of cluster munition victims are civilians, and unfortunately children account for 70% of casualties from cluster munition remnants [...] We have categorically opposed the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine," the HRW representative stressed.
The Russian Permanent Mission to the UN earlier issued a letter to the Security Council about Kiev's use of Lepestok anti-personnel mines against the civilian population in Donbas. The letter was also sent to the UN Secretary General.
Ukraine in 2005 ratified the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, stockpiling and production of anti-personnel mines. Kiev is thus in violation of its international obligations.
The Lepestok anti-personnel landmine is designed to damage feet and is triggered when a person steps on it.
The Donetsk People's Republic representation in the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination of issues related to Ukraine's war crimes has repeatedly recorded the use of cluster munitions equipped with Lepestok mines by Ukrainian troops on the republic's cities.