Amnesty International yesterday accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine, saying the attacks on Kharkiv, many of which used banned cluster bombs, have killed hundreds of civilians. In a report on Ukraine’s second largest city, the human rights organization stated that “the repeated bombing of residential areas in Kharkiv constituted indiscriminate attacks that killed and injured hundreds of civilians and thus constituted war crimes.” “This applies to strikes carried out using cluster (munitions), as well as those carried out using other types of unguided rockets and unguided artillery shells,” she added.
“The continued use of such inaccurate explosive weapons in populated areas with civilian populations, knowing that they often result in high civilian casualties, could amount to attacks on civilians,” the agency added.
On the ground yesterday morning, the Ukrainian army announced its withdrawal from the center of Severodonetsk after a new Russian attack on this strategic city in eastern Ukraine, where fierce fighting has been going on between the two sides of the conflict for several weeks. “The enemy, with artillery support, launched an attack on Severodonetsk with partial success, pushing our units out of the city center,” the General Staff of Ukraine said at a morning briefing on Facebook, emphasizing that the fighting “continues.”
The governor of the Luhansk region Serhiy Gaidai confirmed the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city center, which is the administrative center of the part of the region controlled by Kyiv.
“Fighting continues in the streets… the Russians continue to destroy the city,” he wrote on Facebook on Monday morning, posting photos of buildings destroyed or set on fire.
On Sunday, Gaidai warned that the situation in Severodonetsk was “extremely difficult.” “The enemy wants to completely isolate Severodonetsk, preventing the passage of people or ammunition,” he said, expressing fears that Russia would use “all its precautions to capture the city” within 48 hours.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his daily video address on Sunday evening, spoke of “very fierce” fighting in Severodonetsk, noting that Moscow was deploying undertrained forces and using them as “fuel for the war.”
Control of Severodonetsk opens the way for Moscow to another major city in the Donbass, Kramatorsk, bringing its forces closer to achieving their goal of complete control of this mineral-rich region, which is predominantly Russian-speaking and part of which is under control. pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
From a diplomatic standpoint, one day after a surprise visit to Kyiv by the President of the European Commission to respond “by the end of next week” to Ukraine’s request to launch its EU accession mechanism, Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that “the challenge is that the (scheduled) European Council concludes its work on 23 and 24 June) with a unified position that is at the level of significance of these historic decisions.”
The situation in Severodonetsk is “extremely difficult”, with Ukraine fearing that Russia will mobilize all its forces from Monday or Tuesday to occupy this strategic city in the Donbass in the country’s east.
For his part, the commander of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny, confirmed that “we still control our positions” in the north of the Luhansk region until now, stressing that “every meter of land … is covered in blood.” but not only with our blood, but also with the blood of the occupier.” He pointed out that Russia “is using artillery en masse, and, unfortunately, it has a ten-to-one advantage.”
