The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been marked by indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, striking protected objects such as hospitals. Indiscriminate attacks violate international humanitarian law.

Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab has confirmed the following:

1. Three attacks were carried out in the early hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, in Vuhledar, Kharkiv and Uman. At 10:30 am local time, a ballistic missile struck near a hospital building in Vuhledar, eastern Ukraine, killing four civilians and wounding ten more. Another of the attacks was carried out at approximately 8 am local time, in the Kharkiv region. The likely target was the nearby Chuhuiv Air Base, but instead Russian weapons struck a residential block, causing extensive fire damage and apparently killing at least one civilian man and injuring at least two civilian women. In another attack occurring at 7 am in Uman, a civilian man appears to have been killed by a strike that also damaged a nearby restaurant.

2. One day after, on the morning of February 25, a preschool in north-eastern Ukraine was hit with widely-banned cluster munitions while civilians took shelter inside, killing three of them, including a child, and wounding another child. The attack appears to have been carried out by Russian forces, which were operating nearby, and which have a record of using cluster munitions in populated areas. Amnesty International has confirmed that a 220mm Uragan rocket dropped cluster munitions on the Sonechko nursery and kindergarten in the town of Okhtyrka in Sumy Oblast, where local people were seeking safety from the fighting.

Ambassador Antonov, I urge you to use your power as Ambassador to urge the government of Russia to stop attacking civilians, take responsibility for these acts, and immediately stop carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilians. The continuation of the use of ballistic missiles, cluster munitions, and other inaccurate explosive weapons causing civilian deaths and injuries is inexcusable.

Please – think of the lives lost. Please think of the many millions of lives at stake – including families and children. Please, act swiftly to help stop these attacks. The world is watching.

Sincerely,