Human Rights Watch (HRW) disclosed on Friday that it has discovered new evidence that the Ukrainian military used banned landmines against Russian troops that invaded its territory in 2022.
Accordingly, HRW called on the Ukrainian government to follow through on its expressed commitment not to deploy banned antipersonnel landmines, examine the military’s use of these weapons, and hold those involved accountable.
HRW’s Latest Discovery
According to the latest report, in May 2023, a civilian working in eastern Ukraine posted images online showing “multiple remnants of artillery rockets.” HRW identified warhead sections of Uragan 220mm rockets with antipersonnel mines. The remnants were found while clearing agricultural land.
HRW also discovered handwriting on one of the warhead sections. The first word in the lettering was identified to be the Ukrainian word “Вiд,” which translates as “from.” A second phrase, written in Latin character, refers to a Kyiv-based organisation, which the report did not identify.
According to the report, an image posted on social media in August 2022 bears the watermark of a Kyiv-based NGO run by a person who donated funds to the Ukrainian military during the war. The image uploaded in August shows the same warhead section of an Uragan rocket as the one mentioned above.
Another Ukraine-based organisation shared images of identical text printed in Ukrainian on an Uragan rocket.
Additionally, HRW posted the images of rockets discovered but blurred the company’s written language on the rockets and hid the description of the social media post and the nongovernmental group’s watermark to protect the identity of all parties involved.
Nonetheless, it confirmed that the markings displaying the same batch, year, and factory, as well as the handwriting and handwritten text, matched.
Human Rights Watch said that it uncovered new evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022 https://t.co/lKl3jaHF6Q pic.twitter.com/GWToJMMR6t
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 30, 2023
HRW Report on Initial Findings
In its initial report published in January, HRW stated that Ukraine should examine its military’s suspected usage of thousands of rocket-fired antipersonnel landmines in and around the eastern city of Izium when Russian forces occupied the area.
The group investigated the Izium area from September to October, interviewing victims and witnesses, as well as doctors and Ukrainian deminers.
HRW mentioned documenting several incidents in which rockets carrying PFM antipersonnel mines, sometimes known as “butterfly mines” or “petal mines,” were launched into Russian-occupied regions near Russian military locations.
The initial report stated that the PFM antipersonnel mines employed in and around Izium operate only when scattered by aircraft, rockets, and artillery or launched from specialised vehicles or launchers.
The report also confirmed that antipersonnel mines detonate in response to a person’s presence, proximity, or contact and can kill and injure people long after armed conflicts end. Additionally, all the witnesses interviewed described the same type of mine.
HRW recorded and stated in its report that PFM mines were deployed in nine locations in and around Izium city and confirmed 11 civilian casualties. It also found physical evidence of PFM antipersonnel mine use that can be determined through unexploded mines, mine remains, and metal cassettes used to transport mines in rockets.
According to a healthcare worker interviewed at Izium’s central hospital, medical staff amputated 20 to 30 lower limbs due to injuries caused by these mines between April to September last year.
HRW detected no use of PFM mines after Russian soldiers withdrew from the region in September, although civilians continued to be injured by antipersonnel mines.
Ukraine's landmines inquiry follows @hrw's January report detailing civilian harm from PFM antipersonnel landmines fired in rockets on Izium & surrounding areas in 2022, when the city was under Russian occupation: https://t.co/nD9e0WTRwZ
— Mary Wareham (@marywareham) June 30, 2023
Ukraine’s Response to January Report
HRW praised Ukraine’s commitment to “duly study” the initial report on the suspected use of antipersonnel landmines by the Ukrainian military, as confirmed in a statement issued by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 31 January.
In the statement, the Ministry did not address the HRW allegations on the use of banned landmines but emphasised the need to universalise multilateral mechanisms, like the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on their Destruction (Ottawa Convention), to ensure disarmament and arms control.
The Ministry also requested the HRW and international partners increase pressure on Russia to immediately and effectively cease the war against Ukraine and comply with international law.
According to the Ministry, adhering to “the Ottawa Convention, Ukraine has already destroyed 3 million antipersonnel mines, including stockpiles of extremely hazardous mines POM-2.”
HRW’s Recent Suggestions to Ukraine
HRW submitted its findings and queries to the Ukrainian government in a letter in May but has not received any response.
In the report released on Friday, HRW urged that the Ukrainian government base its investigation on the group’s initial findings and new evidence. According to the HRW, the government should try to hold those responsible for using such mines.
HRW, in its report, also emphasised that the investigation should suggest how the Ukrainian government will identify and assist victims, including by giving adequate and timely compensation, medical and other assistance, such as prosthetics where appropriate, and continuing rehabilitation requirements.
Steve Goose, the arms director for HRW, said, “Ukrainian authorities concerned for their civilians’ protection have an interest in getting to the bottom of how, when, and where these mines were used [...] And doing all they can to stop them from being used again.”
HRW Allegations on Russia’s Use of Banned Landmines
A background briefing on landmine use in Ukraine, initiated by the HRW in June 2022, shows that Russian forces have deployed at least seven types of antipersonnel mines in at least four regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Sumy. It also identified six anti-vehicle mine types deployed in the Ukraine conflict through June 2022.
HRW marked this as an “exceptional case in which a country [Russia] that is not a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997 uses the weapon on the territory [Ukraine] of a signatory to the treaty.”
The latest report released by the HRW states that Russian forces have deployed at least 13 different types of antipersonnel mines in multiple locations around Ukraine since the beginning of their full-scale invasion in 2022, killing and injuring civilians.
HRW has released four reports exposing Russian forces’ use of antipersonnel landmines in Ukraine since 2022.