The rights group released the report last week, saying civilians in 19 towns and villages were put in danger from instances when Ukrainian troops located themselves residential areas. Source: Oleksandr Ratushniak/UNDP Ukraine.
Amnesty International has issued a statement clarifying the intentions of its report accusing Ukraine of endangering citizens.
The rights group released the report last week, saying civilians in 19 towns and villages were put in danger from instances when Ukrainian troops located themselves residential areas.
Amnesty International secretary-general Agnès Callamard called for Ukraine to ensure forces are located away from populated areas, or for all civilians to be safely evacuated first.
It prompted an angry response from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the head of Amnesty’s Kyiv office has chosen to resign.
“Amnesty International deeply regrets the distress and anger that our press release on the Ukrainian military’s fighting tactics has caused,” the group said in their statement.
“Amnesty International’s priority in this and in any conflict is ensuring that civilians are protected.
“Indeed, this was our sole objective when releasing this latest piece of research. While we fully stand by our findings, we regret the pain caused.”
The “distress and anger” from Ukraine they refer to included Zelenskyy accusing Amnesty of trying to “shift the responsibility from the aggressor to the victim”.
“There cannot be – even hypothetically – any condition under which any Russian attack on Ukraine becomes justified,” he said in a nightly address.
“Aggression against our state is unprovoked, invasive and openly terroristic.
“And if someone makes a report in which the victim and the aggressor are allegedly the same in something, if some data about the victim is analysed and what the aggressor was doing at that time is ignored, this cannot be tolerated.”
Amnesty International’s Ukraine head, Oksana Pokalchuk, has also resigned from her role and called the report an unintentional Russian propaganda tool.
“In an effort to protect civilians, this study became a tool of Russian propaganda,” she said.
“It pains me to admit it, but we disagreed with the leadership of Amnesty International on values.
“That’s why I decided to leave the organisation.”
Russia, who continuously denies that civilians are being targeted has not commented on the report.
Amnesty said nothing it documented “in any way justifies Russian violations”, but is calling for human rights protection.
“Amnesty International is not attempting to give the Ukrainian military detailed instructions regarding how they should operate – but we call on the relevant authorities to abide by their international humanitarian obligations in full,” they said in their statement.
“Amnesty International’s priority will always be ensuring that civilians’ lives and human rights are protected during conflict.”
