Russian troops have used a number of weapons widely banned around the world that have killed hundreds of civilians in Ukraine’s Kyiv region, according to a Guardian study.
Evidence gathered during a visit to Bucha, Hostomel and Borodyanka, where Russian occupiers have been accused of atrocities against residents, shows that Russian troops used cluster munitions, cluster bombs and extremely powerful unguided bombs in populated areas that destroyed most a few eight civilian buildings.
Bellingcat, an online non-profit journalistic team dedicated to the investigation of war crimes, which reviewed some of the photos collected by the Guardian, confirmed the presence of tail fins on RBK-500 cluster bombs with PTAB-1M submunitions and BM-cluster munitions. 30 Tornado.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, saying Ukrainian and Western accusations of war crimes are fabricated.
Residents are looking for items in the ruins of a residential building destroyed during the fighting in Borodyanka. Photo: Vadim Girda / AP
However, Russia’s withdrawal from the Kiev region, which it occupied until early April, revealed traces of cluster munitions on the remains of cars, streets, civilian buildings and dead bodies. Cluster munitions, banned by most of the world under a 2008 treaty called the Cluster Munitions Convention, have been released in areas where there are no military personnel or military infrastructure.
Cluster bombs are designed to drop dozens of smaller bombs, called submunitions, over a wide area, but smaller munitions do not always explode, posing a future risk to civilians. The bombs were banned under international law with the 2008 treaty, which was signed by more than 100 countries – though not Russia or Ukraine.
According to the New York Times, Ukrainian troops used a cluster munition missile in early March in Husarivka, a village in the east of the country, which they are trying to regain.
The remains of dozens of cars in Bucha and Borodyanka, seen and photographed by the Guardian and examined by experts, show the characteristic holes caused by cluster bomb submunitions used by the Russian military. The use of cluster bombs and cluster munitions has also been widely reported in other parts of Ukraine. On April 4, when a team from the Lédecins Sans Frontières (MSF) entered an oncology hospital in Mykolaiv, southeastern Ukraine, several explosions occurred in the immediate vicinity of staff.
Destroyed buildings and cars in Bucha. Photo: Alessio Mamo / The Guardian
“No large crater was visible,” an MSF statement said. “As a result of the explosions, our team saw many small holes in the ground, scattered over a large area. These elements could be consistent with the use of cluster bombs. “
The Guardian has discovered a Russian cluster missile used to support cluster munitions near a farming village in Hostomel and allegedly fired by a BM-30 Smerch.
Much of this evidence of the use of these types of internationally banned weapons has been gathered by Ukrainian prosecutors and will soon be handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has launched an investigation into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
“Russia is using banned means and methods of warfare – in particular using banned munitions, cluster bombs and cluster munitions,” said Oleh Tkalenko, deputy chief prosecutor of the Kiev region.
“In the town of Borodyanka, during its occupation, cluster munitions from the Tornado system were used, which is prohibited. In addition, civilian sites were bombed with FAB-250 bombs (this information was provided by specialists). Eight buildings were destroyed. “
The FAB-250 is very inaccurate, designed by the Soviet Union, a 250-kilogram bomb dropped from the air, used extensively by the Soviet Union in its war in Afghanistan and the Russian Federation in Syria. FAB-250s are lowered in free fall from aircraft and are designed exclusively for military destruction, such as the destruction of enemy fortified facilities, surface fortifications, such as storage facilities for certain equipment or bunkers.
A residential building in Borodyanka, which is said to have been destroyed by a Russian FAB-250, is a very inaccurate 250-kilogram Soviet-style aerial bomb. Photo: Alessio Mamo / The Guardian
Although Russia says it is trying to destroy military targets, evidence gathered or reviewed by the Guardian and independently verified by weapons experts shows that the bombs were dropped on residential buildings and civilian infrastructure. A residential building in Borodyanka, which housed hundreds of civilians, was hit by a FAB-250 and gutted and split in two. Most residents died.
“You don’t have to be a weapons expert to know that Russia has ignored the rules of the Bucha war,” said Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk. “Bucha was turned into a Chechen safari, where anti-personnel mines were used against civilians.”
An official at the Kyiv prosecutor’s office confirmed: “There are many cases in Bucha and Irpen when they leave mines in private homes.
Tkalenko said forensic doctors were analyzing every body found in mass graves, on the streets, in basements or buried in rubble, and that fragments of cluster bombs and cluster munitions had been found.
The bodies of civilians allegedly killed by Russians in Borodyanka. Fragments of cluster munitions were found in bodies excavated in the area and classified by forensic doctors. Photo: Alessio Mamo / The Guardian
“Small objects were found in the bodies,” Tkalenko said. “This is how the process is organized: corpses are exhumed, forensic scientists are appointed and experts work on it. I can’t give more accurate information, because thousands of reports are being written, everything is being collected and will be classified. Each type of ammunition will be classified. We are preparing for [a future war crimes investigation at] The Hague. So, this work is done by two specialists: one finds the objects, another takes them out and appoints the expert. The prosecutor’s job is to enforce the law. “
“What I can tell you is that in 20 years of my career I have never seen such horrors as I have seen since February 24 until now, and I have never seen such horrific events,” Tkalenko added. “The war, it’s very scary. That is all.”
Additional reports from Dan Sabag
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