UN decries Russia's failure to protect Ukraine civilians

Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber
Updated ·2 min read
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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk visits Finland

By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

GENEVA (Reuters) -United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday there had been an "extensive failure" by Russia to take adequate measures to protect civilians in Ukraine and that there were indications that Russian forces had committed war crimes.

Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said his office's monitoring indicated "gross violations of international human rights law, serious violations of international humanitarian law, and war crimes, primarily by the forces of the Russian Federation."

These violations, Turk said at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, included 142 cases of summary execution of civilians since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, as well as enforced disappearances, torture and ill treatment of detainees, including through sexual violence.

Russia has vigorously denied committing atrocities or targeting civilians in Ukraine.

"There has been extensive failure by the Russian Federation to take adequate measures to protect civilians and protect civilian objects against the effects of their attacks," Turk said.

He said the armed forces of both countries, but particularly Russia, needed to abide by international human rights and humanitarian law.

"They must cease the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas, and scrupulously map the location of mines," he said.

In response, Russia's permanent mission to the U.N. in Geneva accused the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of "whitewashing" crimes committed by Ukrainian troops.

"If you really want to talk about Donbass, then you need to write about the daily attacks on Donetsk, the deaths of children and other civilians at the hands of the Ukrainian military," Evgeny Ustinov, senior counsellor at the mission, told the Human Rights Council.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded more than 1,400 attacks against healthcare facilities and other health infrastructure in Ukraine overall since the start of Russia's invasion, making it hard to provide the most essential care.

Speaking to reporters via video link from the Ukrainian city of Odesa, Dr Jarno Habicht, the WHO Representative in Ukraine, said the organization and other partners were hoping to reach 3.8 million of the 7.8 million people requiring health aid next year.

"We see that the humanitarian needs will be continuing in 2024 and in the same level as now," he said.

"However, it needs to be more focused to the oblasts (regions) which have highest needs in the east and south," he added, referring to parts of the country that have sustained extensive damage from the invasion.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Rachel More, Bernadette Baum and Hugh Lawson)