Russia’s ombudswoman requests UN, ICRC to urge Kiev to observe Geneva Convention

Russian Politics & Diplomacy FOREIGN POLICY January 29, 2023, 14:53

Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova made such a statement due to an attack on the Novoaidar hospital in the Lugansk People’s Republic by the Ukrainian armed forces

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has addressed the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) due to an attack on the Novoaidar hospital in the Lugansk People’s Republic by the Ukrainian armed forces, requesting to urge Kiev to observe the Geneva Convention.

"The actions of the Ukrainian military brazenly violated Article 18 of the Geneva Convention of 1949 on protection of civilians in wartime. It states clearly: ‘Civil hospitals organized for providing assistance to the wounded, the ill, the disabled and birthing mothers cannot be attacked under any circumstances’. I address the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross demanding not to engage in a violation of human rights, to urge the Ukrainian authorities to observe the Geneva Convention," she wrote on her Telegram channel on Sunday.

According to Moskalkova, the Ukrainian army "committed yet another grave war crime" as it shelled a hospital with a children’s wing, with civil patients and wounded military, "violating the norms of international rights and humanity principles."

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Ukrainian armed forces launched an intentional attack, using rocket-propelled projectiles of a US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, on a hospital in Novoaidar on Saturday morning. Fourteen patients and medical employees were killed, while 24 more suffered different wounds.

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