Ukraine crisis: Russia accused of war crimes in Kharkiv

Kiev:  Amnesty International has accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, saying attacks in the second largest city of Kharkiv, many using banned cluster bombs, have killed hundreds of civilians.
The rights group made the remark in a report titled, ‘Anyone Can Die At Any Time’, published on Monday, the Guardian reported.
“The repeated bombardments of residential neighbourhoods in Kharkiv are indiscriminate attacks which killed and injured hundreds of civilians, and as such constitute war crimes,” the report said.
“This is true both for the strikes carried out using cluster (munitions) as well as those conducted using other types of unguided rockets and unguided artillery shells.
“The continued use of such inaccurate explosive weapons in populated civilian areas, in the knowledge that they are repeatedly causing large numbers of civilian casualties, may even amount to directing attacks against the civilian population,” it added.
The Amnesty said it had uncovered proof in Kharkiv of the repeated use by Russian forces of 9N210 and 9N235 cluster bombs and scatterable land mines, all of which are banned under international conventions, the Guardian reported.