Kremlin-backed militants in eastern Ukraine have threatened medical staff, stolen and destroyed medical equipment, and requisitioned emergency vehicles to transport fighters, according to a Human Rights Watch report set to be released on Aug. 5.
The organization also scolded the militants for having seized control of Kalinin Hospital in Donetsk and the Lenin City Hospital in Sloviansk, putting them at risk of becoming military targets. Since the onslaught of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, five hospitals have been hit by artillery shells and unguided rocket fire, killing at least two medical personnel, it added.
“Pro-Russian
insurgents’ attacks on medical units and personnel are putting sick and
vulnerable people and those who care for them at risk,” said Yulia Gorbunova, Europe
and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “This appalling disregard of
people who are sick or wounded can be deadly and needs to stop immediately.”
In its report, Human Rights Watch, which previously criticized Ukrainian forces for shelling civilian areas, wrote that the
acts are strictly prohibited under the laws of war that afford special protections to medical units
and personnel as well as to the wounded and sick.
Human Rights Watch listed several instances in which militants were seen using medical vehicles for transport. In one case, on
July 21, one of its researchers, standing at an intersection close to
the Donetsk train station, witnessed a column military vehicles moving from
an active combat zone in the northern part of the city. Among them was an ambulance with
its side door open carrying several gunmen – none of whom appeared to be injured – reported the researcher.
The organization also quoted eyewitnesses as saying when the Russian-backed militants retreated from Sloviansk on July 4 and 5 they seized four ambulances drove them to Donetsk, where they have since regrouped.
On July 19, the Kyiv Post observed several militants using an emergency services vehicle from Khartsysk (see above photo) to transport armed fighters to the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash site in Hrabove, Donetsk Oblast. At least five men with face masks and automatic rifles exited the vehicle upon arriving at the scene.
Human Rights Watch called on Russia to use its influence over the separatists to “insist
that they adhere to norms of international humanitarian law, including the special
protections afforded to medical units and personnel as well as to the wounded
and sick.”
Moreover,
the leadership of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk
“should hold accountable those among their ranks responsible for abuses against
medical staff, facilities, and patients,” the organization said.
“Civilians are
already bearing the brunt of the conflict in eastern Ukraine,” Gorbunova said. “Interfering with the medical
assistance they need is simply unconscionable.”
Kyiv Post editor Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at @ChristopherJM.
