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The Investigative Committee of Russian Federation Continues to Document Crimes of Ukrainian Armed Formations Against Civilian Population of Donetsk And Lugansk People's Republics

According to the investigators, over the past day, Ukrainian armed formations have launched new artillery and mortar attacks on settlements and essential facilities of the DPR and LPR.

Thus, as a result of shelling the Kievsky, Leninsky, Kuibyshevsky and Petrovsky districts of Donetsk, the cities of Gorlovka, Dokuchaevsk, Makeyevka and Yasinovataya, as well as Telmanovsky and Novoazovsky districts of the DPR, the settlements of Pervomaisk, Kirovsk, Stakhanov and nearby areas of the LPR, 5 civilians were killed, 5 more people were injured.

More than 60 residential buildings, a kindergarten, 2 stores, as well as infrastructure of the ferroalloy plant - a main employer of the town of Stakhanov - were damaged from shell hits.

Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainian nationalist armed formations' shelling of settlements with heavy highly destructive weapons of indiscriminate action violates a number of fundamental documents and norms of the international law. In particular, they violated the provisions of Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted at the third session of the UN General Assembly by resolution 217 A (III) of 10.12.1948), proclaiming the right of everyone to life, liberty and personal integrity; Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (adopted in Geneva on 12.08.1949) and Additional Protocol I thereto, Article 51 of which guarantees that the civilian population and individual civilians enjoy general protection from the danger arising from military operations and should not be the object of attacks, while Article 52 of the Additional Protocol states that civilian objects should also not be the object of attacks. In addition, there were obvious violations of Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land (The Hague, 18.10.1907), Article 25 of which prohibits any attack or bombing of unprotected cities, villages, dwellings or buildings.

Regarding these facts, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation initiated another two criminal cases under Article 356 of the Criminal Code (ill-treatment of civilians, use of means and methods prohibited by an international treaty of the Russian Federation in an armed conflict).