MOSCOW, October 21 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian goverment forces used cluster munitions in populated areas of Donetsk in October, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in an official release.
"During a week-long investigation in eastern Ukraine, Human Rights Watch documented widespread use of cluster munitions in fighting," the Monday release said.
"It is shocking to see a weapon that most countries have banned used so extensively in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities should make an immediate commitment not to use cluster munitions and join the treaty to ban them,” senior arms researcher at Human Rights Watch Mark Hiznay was quoted as saying.
HRW also said "an employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross was killed on October 2 in an attack on Donetsk that included use of cluster munition rockets."
Cluster munitions contain dozens or hundreds of submunitions. After launch of such a rocket or a bomb a container opens up and disperses submunitions, making them spread over a wide area and endangering anyone in the area of attack. So far, 114 countries have joined the treaty, bannig cluster munitions. Ukraine has not joined it.
The military confrontation in the east of Ukraine started in mid-April when the Kiev authorities sent troops to suppress the independence supporters in the eastern regions of the country. On October 19, DPR Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin said the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) would never become part of a united Ukraine.
