Amidst recent allegations of war prisoners being summarily executed in Ukraine, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed his shock on Friday over unabated human suffering as Russian missile and drone strikes against critical infrastructure continue on a broad scale.
“Millions are being plunged into extreme hardship and appalling conditions of life by these strikes”, he said.
“Taken as a whole, this raises serious problems under international humanitarian law, which requires a concrete and direct military advantage for each object attacked”.
According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), on Wednesday further missile strikes in the city and region of Kyiv killed at least eight civilians, counting one girl, and injured some 45 others, including seven children. […]
“Since Russia began its armed attack on Ukraine in February, there have been numerous allegations of summary executions by both parties of prisoners of war and others no longer participating in the fighting”, Mr. Türk said.
“Persons hors de combat, including soldiers who have surrendered, are protected under international humanitarian law and their summary execution constitutes a war crime”, he reminded. […]
“Our Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has conducted a preliminary analysis indicating that these disturbing videos are highly likely to be authentic in what they show. The actual circumstances of the full sequence of events must be investigated to the fullest extent possible, and those found responsible, appropriately held to account”, said the senior UN official.
“The analysis the Mission has done to date underlines the need for independent and detailed forensic investigations to help establish exactly what happened”. Läs pressmeddelande