Russia attacks on Kharkiv hurts 27 as Ukraine withdraws from landmine treaty

News24

2 days ago

Three children were hurt in Russia strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine.
An attack on Sumy killed two.
Ukraine withdrew from the Ottawa Convention which bans the use of anti-personnel mines.
At least three children were among 27 people wounded as a result of a Russian drone attack on Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv overnight that damaged apartments and a kindergarten, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday.
Kharkiv, which lies in northeastern Ukraine near the border with Russia, has been the target of regular Russian drone and missile attacks since the start of the war that Moscow launched with a full-scale invasion more than three years ago.
A fire broke out in a multi-storey residential building in Kharkiv as a result of the attack, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Oleh Sinehubov, governor of the broader Kharkiv region of which the city of Kharkiv is the administrative centre, said that most of the injuries occurred in the city's Shevchenkivskyi district.
Emergency services were working at the site, Sinehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
The full scale of the attack was not immediately clear. There was no comment on the attacks from Moscow.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war, but thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
A Russian attack on the region of Sumy, also in Ukraine's northeast, on Sunday afternoon killed two people and injured another two, while damaging about 20 buildings, State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Telegram.
An overnight attack damaged several buildings and cars in three of the 10 districts of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
There were no reports of injuries, he added.
Facing challenges in securing new US supplies of artillery and munitions, or to recruit enough new soldiers to hold frontline positions, Kyiv announced its withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on 29 June.
The convention, signed in 1997, bans the use of anti-personnel mines.
Military analysts and a Ukrainian unit commander said that doing so could help slow the Russian advances Kyiv is struggling to contain over three years after Moscow's full-scale invasion.
'Russia does not adhere to any conventions - so why should we?' Oleksiy, who gave only his first name in line with Ukrainian military requirements, said at a rehabilitation centre for wounded service personnel in Kyiv.
We need to do this, because if we mine (our land) then there is then a chance that we won't give it up.
Oleksiy
Oleksiy, a 26-year-old Ukrainian soldier, is six months into a difficult recovery after losing most of his left leg to an anti-personnel mine. Despite his injuries, he says Ukraine is right to withdraw from a treaty banning such weapons.
Russia is not a party to the treaty, and military analysts, rights groups and Ukrainian soldiers say it has been using anti-personnel mines widely.
Russia's Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Moscow has not confirmed it uses anti-personnel mines in Ukraine. Russian officials say Ukraine has already used such devices in the war.
The US approved the provision of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine in November, Reuters has previously reported.
Oleksandr Gusev/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
At the time, US officials said Ukraine was expected to use the US mines on its own territory although it committed to not using them in areas populated with civilians. Russia holds about a fifth of Ukraine including Crimea, which it seized in 2014.
Ukraine's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment on whether it already deploys such munitions, their battlefield usefulness and criticism of the move. Ukraine widely uses anti-vehicle mines not covered by the treaty.
About a quarter of Ukraine is contaminated by mines or unexploded ordnance, the Defence Ministry's demining unit says.