PA Media/dpa
London
Russia is engaged in an ongoing campaign of war crimes against the people and children of Ukraine, Amnesty International has claimed.
The humanitarian group says it has verified 17 strikes in 2024 alone that have caused child casualties while field research carried out by the charity revealed Russian forces have deliberately targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Amnesty International Ukraine researcher Patrick Thompson called for the perpetrators of unlawful attacks and war crimes against the people of Ukraine to be brought to justice.
"Children, as some of the most vulnerable groups in any society, enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law,” Thompson said.
"Yet we continue to see them killed and injured in areas far from the front lines, including in areas with zero military targets.” War crimes are violations of international humanitarian law as per the 1949 Geneva Convention and include intentional attacks on civilians, humanitarian aid workers, hospitals or religious and educational buildings.
Amnesty International’s digital verification corps have so far verified more than 120 videos and images of attacks against children in 2024.
Thompson said: "The strikes Amnesty International documented this year, including the infamous attack against Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital in Kiev, were war crimes reminiscent of the early days of the full-scale invasion when Russian forces bombed the maternity hospital and drama theatre in Mariupol.
"Civilians and civilian objects, including hospitals which enjoy special protection, continue to be the target of unlawful attacks, and more and more children are killed and injured in them.” Data from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) indicates the summer of 2024 was a deadly one for Ukrainian children.
In an attack in July, a Russian missile struck Okhmatdyt, the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine.