Outrage in Kyiv after Amnesty accuses it of endangering civilian life
Kyiv has reacted furiously to an Amnesty International report that accuses it of riding roughshod with civilians in the country's fight against Russia.
In a report published on Thursday, the humanitarian organisation claimed the Ukrainian military has endangered civilians by placing bases and weapons in residential areas -- including schools and hospitals -- as it has sought to repel the Russian invasion.
"Ukraine’s tactics have violated international humanitarian law as they’ve turned civilian objects into military targets," said Amnesty. "The ensuing Russian strikes in populated areas have killed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure."
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the findings Thursday evening.
Amnesty "transfers the responsibility from the aggressor to the victim," he said in his daily video address, accusing the NGO of "attempting to grant amnesty to the terrorist state" of Russia.
"The aggression against our state is unjustified, invasive and terrorist," Zelenskyy added."If someone writes a report in which the victim and the aggressor are in some way put on an equal footing, if some data on the victim is analysed and the actions of the perpetrator ignored, this cannot be tolerated.”
In its report, which was based on several weeks of research in the Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv regions, Amnesty called on Ukraine's armed forces to adhere to the law.
"Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law," said Agnès Callamard, the NGO's secretary general.
International humanitarian law requires that all parties to a conflict should avoid locating, to the maximum extent feasible, military objectives within or near densely-populated
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