Russian military officers allegedly killed five civilians and wounded 15 on Saturday following strikes in the Donetsk province, Ukraine. Vadym Filashkin, the governor of the province, reported that the shelling wounded more civilians, including children.
The fatalities occurred across several localities in the region. Specifically, three individuals were killed in Ivanivka, one in Kostiantynivka, and one in Toretsk. According to Filashkin, the shelling was part of a broader assault, with Russian armed forces firing 23 times at various localities within the Donetsk region over the last 24 hours. Furthermore, local governor Serhi Lysak reported that at least eight people were wounded in Nikopol, including a toddler and a 10-year-old girl.
Russia’s military actions in the Donetsk province may constitute violations of international humanitarian law and the laws of war, specifically the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. According to Article 51 of the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, civilian populations and individual civilians shall not be the object of attacks. The indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas which caused the casualties may therefore constitute a breach of these provisions.
Additionally, Article 57 of the Protocol requires all possible precautions to be taken to avoid and minimize unexpected loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, and damage to civilian objects. The reported 23 separate attacks on localities in the Donetsk region may indicate a practice of disregard for this provision, potentially comprising a violation of the principle of distinction, which requires parties to a conflict to always distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Earlier this month, a wave of Russian missile attacks in Dnipro, Kramatorsk, Kryviy Rih, Kyiv, and Pokrvosk killed dozens of people, injured hundreds, and damaged Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital. In March of 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for President of Russia Vladimir Putin and another Russian official on war crimes accusations following indications of their involvement in the unlawful deportation of children from occupied territories of Ukraine.
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