BTW, the above is not Russian propaganda so don't go there. It's from Amnesty International - an organization beyond reproach and always truthful.
First of all, noone is perfect and so in my opinion noone is beyond reproach, no matter whether it's Russia, Ukraine, Poland or US, or Putin, pope Francis or Amnesty International. I'm just against false claims about Amnesty International (and other human rights organisations) spread by Russians that it's "paid by the West" and "not objective", which is clearly not true, as you can see.
I haven't seen this AI report yet, but judging by what I've read in the press the controversy seems to be more about the conclusions of the AI report rather than about it's findings.
AI says that Ukraine should move military forces and missile defense systems away from cities and Ukraine respond that they have to be there in order to defend the cities, because Russia wants to take over cities and not forests and meadows. This makes sense to me, to put it mildly.
AI states that Ukrainian military shouldn't be using civillian buildings like hospitals and schools while Ukraine says that they're using them only if they're empty.
AI says that Ukraine should evacuate civillians and Ukraine respond that they're doing that, but not everyone wants to evacuate. Based on reports both of media and private people and videos made by both media and private people who went to Ukraine I can say that this is true. Even what Bobko wrote confirms that - he wrote that his "stupid cousin" decided to stay in Mykolaiv in order to "guard" his family's flat.
One could argue that Ukraine shouldn't blame Russian troops for attacking hospitals and schools if Ukrainian military is using them, which I think is true. On the other hand, this whole Russian invasion on Ukraine is a breach of the international law, so Russian troops shouldn't even be in Ukraine attacking
anything.
AI also stated that there were cases of Russia attacking civillian buildings even when there were no Ukrainian military or any other military targets there - I'm guessing that neither RT or any other Russian state media quoted that. Am I right? :)
This is what Steven Haines, a professor of public international law at London's University of Greenwich who drafted those guidelines on the military's use of schools and universities during conflicts has to say about this:
""
The use of schools - if they are not also being used for their primary purpose - is not invariably unlawful. Very obviously, the situation in Ukraine counts as exceptional in this respect ... so the Ukrainian military is not necessarily breaching the guidelines," he said.
While Haines agreed that buildings should be chosen that are set as far apart from residential areas as possible, he said
the nature of the invasion meant that city warfare was inevitable."
Quote from:
theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/05/zelenskiy-and-envoys-attack-amnesty-report-on-endangering-civilians-in-russia-crossfire
AI about Russian indiscriminate attacks:
"The group noted, however, that the tactics
'in no way justify Russia's indiscriminate attacks', which have battered civilian populations.
(...)
The report said: 'In certain other locations in which
Amnesty International concluded that Russia had committed war crimes, including in some areas of the city of Kharkiv,
the organization did not find evidence of Ukrainian forces located in the civilian areas unlawfully targeted by the Russian military.'"
Quotes from:
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11083903/Zelensky-fury-Amnesty-International-accuses-UKRAINE-endangering-civilians-lives.html
