[이데일리 김경은 기자] Controversy over the use of weapons, which is a “war crime”, has resurfaced as Russia used cluster bombs to attack a railway station in eastern Ukraine on the 8th (local time).
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The Washington Post (WP) pointed out that the Russian military’s use of weapons that did not discriminate between soldiers and civilians might be a war crime.
Cluster bombs are weapons that contain other small bombs in one bomb. Their use is prohibited under international law because they have strong explosive power and cause great damage to civilians.
Ukraine alleges that Russia used cluster bombs in an attack on a train station in Kramatorsk, a city in the northern province of Donetsk.
Witnesses at the time testified to the use of cluster bombs in an interview with the media, saying that following the initial explosion, there were 4 to 5 explosions.
Arms experts who saw the photo of the missile wreckage at the site taken by the WP judged it to be a ‘Torchika short-range ballistic missile’, a weapon that can be equipped with cluster bombs.
After launch, the 9M79 series Torchika ballistic missiles detonate at 7,000 feet (regarding 2.1 km), distributing 50 small bombs inside the 9N123 cluster bomb warhead. These small bombs then explode once more, scattering sharp fragments.
The time the Russian missile fell was 10:30 a.m. that day. Thousands of civilians, including women and children, were waiting at the train station for the first train to the Midwest to escape Russian airstrikes.
Donetsk’s governor claimed that Russian troops bombed the train station with cluster bombs.
The use of cluster munitions is prohibited by the Oslo Treaty, which came into force in 2010. However, Russia, Ukraine and the United States did not join.
At a press briefing on the same day, the U.S. Department of Defense ruled that a missile attack at a railway station in eastern Ukraine, Kramatorsk, was the work of Russian forces.
“It will be noted that Russia initially claimed it was a successful airstrike and then withdrew that claim when reports of civilian casualties appeared,” a senior Pentagon official said at a briefing.
However, when asked whether the SS-21 used in the attack was a single missile or a missile equipped with cluster munitions, as Ukraine claims, it has not yet been able to make a decision.
“We do not have an answer as to whether there were cluster munitions in the strike as we are still analyzing the missile strikes once morest the railroad,” the official said.
Russia denied the missile attack. The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that “the Russian military had no plans to attack and did not carry out such an attack on Kramatorsk on that day,” claiming that it was a self-made play by the Ukrainian forces.
At least 50 civilians were killed and over 300 were injured in the attack. Five children were also reported to have died.