Russia withdrawal shows ‘disproportionate targeting’ of non-combatants, UK says

By ToI Staff 10 April 2022, 1:30 am

Edit

Field engineers of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine conduct mine clearing among destroyed vehicles on a street of Bucha on April 5, 2022, as Ukrainian officials say over 400 civilian bodies have been recovered from the wider Kyiv region, many of which were buried in mass graves. (Genya SAVILOV / AFP)

Russia’s withdrawal from northern Ukraine in recent days has left “evidence of the disproportionate targeting of non-combatants including the presence of mass graves, the fatal use of hostages as human shields, and mining of civilian infrastructure,” says the UK’s Ministry of Defence in its daily briefing on Twitter.

Russian forces have continued to use IEDs (improvised explosive devices) “to inflict casualties, lower morale, and restrict Ukrainian freedom of movement,” while also attacking infrastructure targets “with a high risk of collateral harm to civilians, including a nitrate acid tank at Rubizhne,” the ministry says in reference to a city in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region which has suffered heavy shelling this week.