Human rights groups and Ukraine's ambassador to the United States are accusing Russia of attacking Ukrainians with cluster bombs and vacuum bombs, weapons that have been condemned by a variety of international organisations.
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Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both said that Russian forces appeared to have used widely banned cluster munitions, with Amnesty accusing them of attacking a preschool in northeastern Ukraine while civilians took shelter inside.
The Kremlin has denied that the Russian military has used cluster munitions in Ukraine and insisted that the Russian forces only struck military targets.
Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, told reporters after meeting with members of the US Congress that Russia had also used a thermobaric weapon, known as a vacuum bomb, in its invasion of her country.
"They used the vacuum bomb today," Markarova said after a meeting with lawmakers. "...The devastation that Russia is trying to inflict on Ukraine is large."
A vacuum bomb, or thermobaric weapon, sucks in oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, typically producing a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than that of a conventional explosive and is capable of vaporising human bodies.
There has been no official confirmation that thermobaric weapons have been used in the conflict in Ukraine. CNN reported that one of its teams had spotted a Russian thermobaric multiple rocket launcher near the Ukrainian border early on Saturday afternoon.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said she had seen reports but did not have confirmation that Russia had used such weapons. "If that were true, it would potentially be a war crime," she told a press briefing
Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted on Tuesday that "the Russian troops don't conduct any strikes against civilian infrastructure and residential areas." Peskov's claim contradicts abundant evidence documented by media of indiscriminate shelling of homes, schools, and hospitals across Ukraine.
Peskov also dismissed the accusations that the Russian military has used cluster munitions and devastating vacuum weapons, as fabrications.
Amnesty International said international humanitarian law prohibits the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions. Launching indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians constitutes a war crime.
Australian Associated Press
