Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for an investigation into an attack last month on the Ukrainian town of Lyman that killed nine people and injured a dozen others, saying the apparent use of cluster munitions in the attack make it a possible war crime.
The attack on July 8 hit a residential district of Lyman in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which has been the scene of heavy fighting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“This attack, if confirmed, once again demonstrates the Russian army’s contempt for civilians and the international legal restraints of war, as well as the deadly and indiscriminate nature of the weapons,” Ida Sawyer, crisis and conflict director at HRW, said in a statement on August 4.
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HRW said it conducted interviews with people who were at the scene, including an explosive ordnance expert who analyzed remnants of the weapon used and medics who treated the victims. It also analyzed and verified 32 photos and videos posted online that were taken during and after the attack.
HRW used this evidence to determine that the attack was carried out with a Smerch cluster munition rocket containing "fragmentation submunitions." It said the attack should be investigated as a war crime.
The July 8 attack in Lyman occurred one day after the United States said it would begin sending cluster munitions to Ukraine. The United States until then had avoided providing cluster munitions for fear of alienating allies, but Ukraine requested them and calls for Washington to provide them had grown louder.
U.S. President Joe Biden said at the time that it was a difficult decision to approve the weapons, but he believed Kyiv needed them to prevent Russian forces from halting the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The United States also said Russia’s use of cluster munitions justified its decision to send them. Ukraine received its first delivery of cluster munitions from the United States on July 13.
HRW has previously warned about their use in Ukraine. Cluster munitions are bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets, many of which do not explode, putting civilians at risk even long after wars end.
HRW has also pointed to an international convention banning the use of cluster munitions. The agreement, which entered into force in 2010, has been implemented by more than 100 countries, but not by the United States, Ukraine, or Russia.
Russia has said it has not used cluster munitions in Ukraine. HRW said despite these claims the list of deadly Russian cluster munition attacks grows.
Sawyer said both Russia and Ukraine should end their use of cluster munitions “as these weapons are putting civilian lives at risk today and will do so for years to come.”