There is much evidence linking Russian forces to atrocities and apparent war crimes in Ukraine, including mass killings, indiscriminate attacks, the use of rape as a weapon of war, and the alleged forced deportation of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from their country. While the scale of Russian brutality in Ukraine is large, recent reports from Amnesty International, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Human Rights Watch — have also raised concerns about the behavior of Ukrainian forces . This includes the mistreatment of prisoners of war, extrajudicial punishment and the use of populated areas for military operations, putting civilians directly in the line of fire. On Thursday, Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said there was “a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk” and that “being in a defensive position” was not an exception to the rules of war. Amnesty’s report prompted the resignation of the organization’s Ukraine director, Oksana Pokalchuk, on Friday. He said Amnesty had unwittingly “produced material that sounded like support for Russian narratives of the invasion. In an effort to protect civilians, this study became a tool of Russian propaganda.”

“There is never a completely clean side”

Despite the controversy surrounding the recent reports, human rights experts say it is important for Ukraine to hold any violations of international law by its forces accountable — and to prevent Kyiv from giving Moscow fodder to justify its bloody her invasion. “Even in the most asymmetric wars, there is never a completely clean side,” said Mark Kersten, an assistant professor of criminology at the University of the Fraser Valley in BC and a senior adviser at the Wayamo Foundation, a German nonprofit that promotes international justice. crimes. While Kersten said Ukraine is undeniably a victim of Russian aggression, he told the CBC that it should take seriously any “credible allegations” against its military and other armed factions if it wants to maintain its “moral high ground in relation to international law”. Both Russia and Ukraine they are signatories to treaties that enshrine human rights in armed conflict and govern the rules of war. Among these are the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which set standards for the humane treatment of civilians and prisoners of war. WATCHES | Prosecutors seek evidence of war crimes in Ukraine:

Efforts to investigate war crimes in Ukraine

On the ground in Ukraine, prosecutors are collecting evidence of alleged war crimes against Russia. Their work comes as a Russian soldier pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Protecting civilians while putting them at risk

Russian forces have been widely accused of violating international laws that oblige them to minimize civilian deaths. But regardless of whether their adversaries follow the rules of war, Ukrainian forces are also legally bound to limit harm to civilians, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) senior crisis and conflict researcher Belkis Wille. In a report released in July, Human Rights Watch sounded the alarm over multiple incidents in which Ukrainian and Russian forces endangered civilians by setting up military operations in residential areas or public facilities such as schools or health centers without taking adequate measures to protect of civilians or their transport to a safe place. One incident with Ukrainian forces investigated by HRW took place in the village of Yakovlivka. The report, authored by Wille, details how the militants arrived shortly after Russia invaded the country and set up in a school. Days later, an attack in the area killed four civilians and wounded 10 others. OHCHR also warned of military operations being set up in civilian facilities and the possible use of human shields. Of reportreleased in June, accused both Russia and Ukraine of a nursing home attack in the Luhansk region in the first weeks of the conflict. Dozens of “vulnerable civilians” are believed to have been killed when Ukrainian forces moved inside the strategically placed facility. Staff and residents were not evacuated to safety before the Russian-linked forces attacked, OHCHR said. This image by Maxar Technologies shows a nursing home in the eastern region of Luhansk, where a United Nations report says Ukraine’s armed forces bear a large share of responsibility for a deadly attack. (Maxar Technologies via Associated Press) “If the armed forces are in the area, of course that means the area is at risk of being targeted,” Will said. “Where the Ukrainian armed forces are based, this is a legitimate military target for the Russian side.” He told CBC News that there have been cases where residents in some areas welcomed the presence of Ukrainian forces because they wanted protection from invading Russian forces, but explained that this is “somewhat unrelated to the law” because of the obligation to remove civilians from those areas. .

Determining responsibility is complicated

The OHCHR report identified several other concerns about the conduct of the armed forces on both sides, including:

Ukraine and Russia both use cluster munitions that can indiscriminately kill or injure civilians. Extensive use of extrajudicial punishments. Allegations of conflict-related sexual violence. The treatment of prisoners of war as well as torture and summary executions.

Wille said one factor complicating the examination of whether some Ukrainian fighters are responsible for violating international law is that there are many different armed factions beyond the Ukrainian military. Many fighters may not have formal training. The Territorial Defense Force is a branch of the military, but is made up of ex-servicemen and civilian volunteers. The Azov Battalion was formed in 2014 as a far-right militia that was eventually placed under the National Guard of Ukraine. Another group known as the Kraken Regiment, formed at the start of the war and linked to Azov, is also largely volunteer. Ukraine has also opened its doors to some foreign fighters. Wille said these “newly formed battle groups” were in a “grey area”, with no clear command structure and abuses could go “completely unchecked”. Soldiers of the Ukrainian special forces unit Kraken check the documents of a man on a damaged road bridge near the village of Rus’ka Lozova, north of Kharkiv, on May 16, 2022. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images) “We have no idea what kind of training they receive in the principles of the laws of war and to what extent, if they violated the laws of war, there would be a strong enough system to investigate these potential abuses and hold them accountable,” he said. Not all fighters act on orders when they carry out suspected human rights abuses, Kersten explained. “While I don’t think people should blame these things on bad apples, you’re always going to have bad apples who commit, you know, individual war crimes outside the command structure of the military,” he said. LISTEN | Massive effort to gather evidence of alleged Russian war crimes: Front Burner24:42 Gathering evidence of war crimes in Ukraine A massive effort is underway to gather evidence of alleged war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine. Investigators from the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are on the ground, collecting accounts of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture, among other abuses. Today, Belkis Wille, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, talks about what she and her team have found so far and why she thinks it’s important that “people around the world, those in power, but also its citizens of Russia, to actually be able to read about what this war looks like and what abuses are being committed.” WARNING: This episode contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who has.

Why accountability is important for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy furiously denounced the Amnesty International report released on Thursday, accusing the organization of trying to “shift the blame from the aggressor to the victim”. “If you provide manipulative reports,” Zelensky said in his nightly video speech, “then you share with them the responsibility for the death of people.” Asked by Reuters news agency about the controversy surrounding its latest report and the resignation of its Ukraine country director, Amnesty said on Saturday it was preparing a further statement. WATCH: Westerners aid Russia’s war propaganda efforts in Ukraine:

Westerners are helping Putin’s propaganda war in Ukraine

WARNING: This story contains graphic images | When it comes to promoting the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has help from a group of Westerners with a long history of disinformation, including John Mark Duggan and Canadian Eva Bartlett. CBC News contacted the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine to investigate any investigations into possible violations of international law by Ukrainian fighters. No response was received at the time of publication. Global Affairs Canada would not say whether Canadian officials have pressed Ukraine to investigate allegations its forces violated international law. He said Canada is “unwavering” in its support for Ukraine against Russia’s aggression and aims to “ensure that all those complicit in these horrific crimes and illegal war are held…