Russia continues to violate the laws and customs of war on a massive scale, constantly shelling civilian infrastructure and demonstrating cruel treatment of prisoners of war.
In the last few days alone, the Russian army has massively shelled residential houses and civilian infrastructure in many settlements in Ukraine-controlled territory of Donetsk Region.
On 13 March, Russian troops shelled Avdiivka with gun barrel artillery and Uragan multiple rocket launchers, destroying a local school. A 46-year-old woman was killed as a result of this shelling. In Kostyantynivka, Russian shelling destroyed more than a dozen private and apartment buildings. Thirteen people were wounded and one local resident was killed.
But Russia is not stopping there. On the morning of 14 March, Russian troops shelled Kramatorsk, hitting an apartment block and damaging six more apartment buildings. The shelling of the central part of the city killed 1 person and injured more than 10. This is not the first time Kramatorsk has been shelled en masse. Last May, the Russians launched a rocket attack on the train station, killing 61 people and wounding 121.
The Russian army has never been known for its humanity or the observance of rules for the treatment of prisoners of war. Following the shooting of a Ukrainian army POW, another crime stirred the media network. It became known that the Russians had kept captured Ukrainian soldiers in the basement without food for two months. After the Ukrainian armed forces liberated several positions from the Russian army, one of the Ukrainian servicemen was rescued half alive, while the others died of starvation.
The US daily newspaper The New York Times quoted official sources as saying that the International Criminal Court intended to open two cases on war crimes committed by Russia during the war against Ukraine and will demand that arrest warrants be issued for Russian citizens. The cases relate to the kidnapping and smuggling of Ukrainian children to Russia, as well as to deliberate missile strikes on Ukraine’s civil infrastructure. These are the first international charges against Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. Russia is definitely going to answer for all the crimes committed against the Ukrainian people.
