DONETSK, June 19. /TASS/. During the course of fighting in Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Ukrainian army repeatedly blew up multi-story apartment buildings while civilians were hiding in the cellar, the DPR's ombudsman Daria Morozova said in a report.

"In the spring of 2023, during the retreat, the Ukrainian forces mined and blew up multi-story buildings. The civilians in the basements were often not warned about the mines being planted. Nor did they have enough time to leave the building. This resulted in the death of civilians under the debris of blown-up buildings," the document reads. The report notes that "this act can be regarded as deliberate killing of people who are not directly participating in the conflict."

That houses were repeatedly mined while residents were still inside was also confirmed to the human rights activists by civilian witnesses. The house at 36 Levanevsky Street was blown up while civilians were hiding in the basement. After Ukrainian troops retreated from the area, the Russian military helped the survivors buried under the rubble get out. Alexander Stupnikov, a local resident evacuated from Artyomovsk, said that residents of one of the houses were told by the Ukrainian military to leave in 15 minutes. Their house was blown up, according to the ombudsman's report. Videos of houses being blown up in Artyomovsk were shown in the Ukrainian media.

Artyomovsk resident Yulia told reporters on Monday that seven people were killed when the Ukrainian army blew up a house in Artyomovsk.

"We were staying in the cellar when they [Ukrainian soldiers] mined the floor above us. The explosion killed seven people, including a child," she said. The woman and her husband were under the rubble at the time. She recalls that first they tried to get out on their own. At a certain point they lost all hope they might be rescued, but a few days later the survivors were saved by Russian troops.

Such actions by the Ukrainian military violate international humanitarian law, including the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Convention. "These acts are a violation of the principles and customs of warfare, which implies criminal punishment both at the level of international law and at the level of national legislation of both Russia and Ukraine," the report says.

On May 21, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the liberation of Artyomovsk had been completed as a result of offensive operations by the PMC Wagner's assault groups, supported by artillery and aviation of the southern group of forces. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated PMC Wagner and the Russian Armed Forces on the liberation of the city.