Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register KYIV, Aug 6 (Reuters) – The head of Amnesty International’s Ukrainian branch is leaving the human rights body after the group accused Ukraine’s armed forces of putting civilians at risk by deploying troops in residential areas during the Russian invasion. Amnesty made the comments on Thursday and Kyiv likened them to Russian propaganda and disinformation. read more President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused the group of supporting Russia’s unprovoked attacks on Ukraine. The human rights group, he said, was trying to shift the blame from the attacker to the victim. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Oksana Pokalchuk, Amnesty National’s leader, said on Facebook late Friday that the Ukrainian office has consistently noted that the information Amnesty released on Thursday should take into account the position of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. “As a result of this, unwittingly, the organization produced material that sounded like support for Russian narratives. In an effort to protect civilians, this study became a tool of Russian propaganda,” Pokalchuk said. “It pains me to admit it, but we had a disagreement with the leadership of Amnesty International about values. That’s why I decided to leave the organization,” he added. Ukrainian officials said they were taking every possible measure to remove civilians from frontline areas. Russia denies targeting civilians in what it describes as a “special military operation”. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Pavel Polityuk. Editor: Kim Coghill Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
