A new UN report has found that Ukraine’s armed forces are responsible for a large and perhaps equal share of what happened in Stara Krasnyanka, about 580 kilometers (360 mi) southeast of Kyiv. Is.
A new United Nations report has found that Ukraine’s armed forces have a large and perhaps equal share of blame for what happened in Stara Krasnyanka, about 580 kilometers (360 miles) southeast of Kyiv. Is.
Two weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Russian forces attacked a nursing home in the eastern region of Luhansk. Dozens of elderly and disabled patients, many of whom were bedridden, were trapped inside without water or electricity.
The March 11 attack started a fire that spread throughout the facility, suffocating those who could not move. A small number of patients and staff fled and fled into a nearby forest, finally receiving aid after walking 5 kilometers (3 mi).
In a war of atrocities, the attack on the nursing home near the village of Stara Krasnyanka stood out for its brutality. And Ukrainian officials put the blame squarely on the Russian military, accusing it of killing more than 50 vulnerable civilians in a brutal and unprovoked attack.
But a new UN report finds that Ukraine’s armed forces are to blame for what happened in Stara Krasnyanka, some 580 kilometers (360 miles) southeast of Kyiv. A few days before the attack, Ukrainian troops occupied positions inside the nursing home, effectively targeting the building.
According to the United Nations, at least 22 of the 71 patients survived the attack, but the exact number of those killed is unknown.
The report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights does not conclude that Ukrainian soldiers or Russian soldiers committed war crimes. But it said the fighting at the Stara Krasnyanka nursing home symbolized the Human Rights Office’s concerns over the possible use of “human shields” to stop military operations in some areas.
The aftermath of the Stara Krasnyanka home attack also provides a window into how both Russia and Ukraine move quickly to explain how events are unfolding on the ground – even when those events are still the fog of war. may be covered. For Ukraine, maintaining the upper hand in the battle of hearts and minds helps ensure the continued flow of billions of dollars in Western military and humanitarian aid.
Russia’s often indiscriminate shelling of apartment buildings, hospitals, schools and theaters has been the primary cause of thousands of civilian casualties of the war. Ukraine and its allies, including the United States, have rebuked Moscow for the deaths and injuries and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
But Ukraine must also follow the international rules of the battlefield. David Crane, a former Defense Department official and a veteran of multiple international war crime investigations, said Ukrainian forces may have violated armed conflict laws by not evacuating nursing home residents and staff.
“The bottom rule is that civilians cannot be deliberately targeted. Duration. For whatever reason,” said Mr. Crane. “The Ukrainians put those in a position that was a killing zone. And you can’t do that.”
AP and PBS series frontline, drawn from a variety of sources, independently documented hundreds of attacks across Ukraine that possibly constituted war crimes. The vast majority appears to have been committed by Russia. But a handful, including the destruction of the Stara Krasnyanka care home, indicate that Ukrainian fighters are also to blame.
The first reports in the media about the Stara Krasnyanka nursing home reflect statements issued by Ukrainian authorities more than a week after the massive fighting ended.
Luhansk Governor Serhi Haidai announced in a March 20 post on his Telegram account that 56 people had been “reprehensible and deliberate” killed by “Russian occupiers” who “shot at close range from a tank.” The office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Irina Venediktova, said in a statement issued the same day that 56 veterans died as a result of the “treacherous actions” of the Russian military and their allies. None of the statements mentioned whether Ukrainian troops had entered the house before the start of the fighting.
The Luhansk Regional Administration, which is headed by Haidai, did not respond to requests for comment. Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office told AP On Friday, the Luhansk division continued its investigation into Russia’s “indiscriminate shelling and forced transfer of persons” from nursing homes. About 50 patients died in the attack, the office said, less than what was said in March. The prosecutor general’s office did not directly respond to the UN report, but said it was also looking into whether Ukrainian soldiers were in the house.
The Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces in the Donbass, a mostly Russian-speaking eastern industrial heartland, which includes the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, for eight years. They have declared two independent “people’s” republics, which were recognized by Russia just before the start of the war. After the invasion, these separatist fighters came under Russian command.
Victoria Serdyukova, the human rights commissioner of the Luhansk separatist government, said in a March 23 statement that Ukrainian soldiers were responsible for the casualties at the nursing home. The residents were taken hostage by Ukrainian “militants” and that many of them were “burned alive” in Ukrainian-initiated fires as they retreated, she said.
The UN report examined violations of international human rights law in Ukraine since the Russian invasion on 24 February. The 38-page report on the Stara Krasnyanka attack has only two paragraphs. Although brief, this short section is the most detailed and independent examination of the incident that has been made public.
According to a UN official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, the Stara Krasnyanka section is based on eyewitness accounts of employees who survived the attack and by relatives of residents. Based on the information provided. The official said the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is still working to document the matter thoroughly. The rest of the questions were how many people were killed and who were they.
In early March, according to the UN report, “when active hostilities drew closer to the care home,” its management repeatedly requested that local authorities evacuate residents. But an evacuation was not possible as Ukrainian forces are believed to have mined and blocked roads in the vicinity, the report said. The house is built on a hill and is near a major highway, making the location strategically important.
On 7 March, Ukrainian soldiers entered the nursing home, two days later, according to the United Nations, they “exchanged fire” with Moscow-backed separatists, “though it is unclear which side fired first.” “The report stated. No employees or residents were injured in this first exchange.
On March 11, 71 residents and 15 workers remained at home without water or electricity. That morning, Luhansk separatist forces, which the United Nations referred to as “Russian-affiliated armed groups”, attacked with heavy weapons, the report said.
“A fire broke out and spread to the care home while fighting was underway,” according to the United Nations, with an unspecified number of patients and staff fleeing the home and into a nearby forest and eventually separatist fighters. met those who gave them. aid according to the United Nations
A correspondent for the state-owned Russia-1 news channel gained access to a post-war war-ravaged home and in April posted a video on his Telegram account depicting “helpless old men” as human shields at Ukrainian soldiers. accused of using
The reporter, Nikolai Dolgachev, was in the building with a man identified in the video as a Luhansk separatist soldier, who goes by the call sign “Wolf.” The video shows extensive damage both inside and outside the building. A dead body is lying on the floor. The AP verified that the location in the video posted by Mr. Dolgachev is a care home by comparing it to other videos and photos of the building.
Mr. Dolgachev said Ukrainian troops installed a “machine gun nest” and an anti-tank weapon in the house. In the video, he pauses among the rubble inside the building to lay his hands on the anti-tank weapon, which he incorrectly called the Tor. Tor is a Russian-made surface-to-air missile.
Ian Williams, a military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, reviewed the video and said the weapon is an RK-3 Corser, a Ukrainian-made portable anti-tank guided missile.
While the opposing sides blame each other for the Stara Krasnyanka tragedy, the grim reality is that most wars in Ukraine are being fought in populated areas, increasing the potential for civilian casualties. Those deaths and injuries are almost inevitable when civilians are trapped in the line of fire.
“The Russians are the bad guys (in this conflict). It’s very clear,” said Mr. Crane. “But everyone is accountable to the law and the laws of armed conflict.”