By comparison, Western military forces have almost entirely converted their arsenals to use guided rockets, missiles and bombs, and they have even developed kits that can turn regular artillery shells into precision weapons. Russia has relied heavily in Ukraine on long-range attacks with unguided weapons, like howitzers and artillery rockets. Both of these factors increase the likelihood of shells and rockets falling in areas populated by civilians. What follows is an analysis of the visual evidence The Times examined in its investigation.Ī vast majority of the weapons identified by The Times were unguided munitions, which lack accuracy and, as a result, may be used in greater numbers to destroy a single target. “Just because I have a weapon doesn’t mean I can use it.” “The law of war is far more demanding than the rule of simple expediency and convenience,” Professor Newton said. “The Russians have violated every single one of those principles almost daily,” said Mike Newton, a Vanderbilt University law professor who frequently supports efforts to prosecute war crimes all over the world. And they must not use weapons calculated to inflict unnecessary suffering. Combatants must consider distinction, that attacks are directed only toward lawful targets and people and are not applied indiscriminately. Combatants must not carry out attacks that are disproportionate, where the expected civilian harm is clearly excessive, according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to the direct and concrete military advantage that would be anticipated. The law requires a balance between a military mission and humanity. Some of the weapons identified may have been fired by Ukrainian forces in an effort to defend themselves against the invasion, but evidence points to far greater use by Russian forces.Ĭustomary international humanitarian laws and treaties - including the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their protocols - demand that the driving principle in war be military necessity, which mandates all combatants direct their actions toward legitimate military targets. More than 330 other weapons appeared to have been used on or near civilian structures.īecause of the difficulties in getting comprehensive information in wartime, these tallies are undercounts. All but a handful were cluster munitions, including their submunitions, which can pose a grave risk to civilians for decades after war has ended. Of the weapons identified by The Times, more than 210 were types that have been widely banned under international treaties. In fact, it has formed the backbone of the country’s strategy for war since the beginning of the invasion. The magnitude of the evidence collected and cataloged by The Times shows that the use of these kinds of weapons by Russia has not been limited or anomalous. All told, there were more than 2,000 identifiable munitions, a vast majority of which were unguided. Times journalists identified and categorized more than 450 instances in which weapons or groups of weapons were found in Ukraine.
The Times examined more than 1,000 pictures taken by its own photojournalists and wire-service photographers working on the ground in Ukraine, as well as visual evidence presented by Ukrainian government and military agencies.
These strikes have left civilians - including children - dead and injured, and they have left critical infrastructure, like schools and homes, a shambles. The attacks have made repeated and widespread use of weapons that kill, maim and destroy indiscriminately - a potential violation of international humanitarian law. Reflecting a shockingly barbaric and old-fashioned wartime strategy, Russian forces have pummeled Ukrainian cities and towns with a barrage of rockets and other munitions, most of which can be considered relatively crude relics of the Cold War, and many of which have been banned widely under international treaties, according to a New York Times analysis.
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