A UN report says Ukraine is partly to blame for a separatist attack on a nursing home two weeks after the war began, in which dozens of elderly people were killed.

The Luhansk hospital was attacked on March 11 by Russian-backed separatists, and dozens of elderly and disabled patients are confined without access to water or electricity.

The attack sparked a fire that spread throughout the building, killing many patients. A small number of patients and staff survived and made their way out into the surrounding forest.

In a war already marked by atrocities, the attack on the nursing home near the village of Stara Krasnjanka was gruesome, and the Ukrainian authorities did not hesitate to blame Russian forces and accuse them of killing more than 50 vulnerable civilians in brutal and unprovoked attacks. .

Most of the responsibilities

But in the new one UN report It appears that the Ukrainian armed forces bear most of the responsibility for what happened at Stara Krasnjanka. A few days before the attack, the Ukrainian army had taken up a position in a nursing home and thus made it a military target.

At least 22 of the 71 patients survived, but the exact number of deaths remains unknown. There are also 15 employees at the nursing home.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report did not conclude whether war crimes had been committed by Ukraine or separatist forces, but it became clear that the incident was an example of the High Commissioner’s concern about the use of civilians as human beings. shield in brutal war.

Every version

Developments after the incident show how both sides were quick to give their versions of the incident on the pitch, even when things were still unclear. For Ukraine, it is important to have control over the narrative to ensure that foreign aid continues to come.

Russia’s frequent arbitrary shooting of rockets, bombs and grenades at apartment blocks, schools, hospitals and theaters is by far the most important reason why thousands of civilians have died in the war.

But Ukraine must also respect international laws of war, said David Crane, a former US Secretary of Defense and veteran of countless war crimes investigations around the world. He said that Ukraine may be guilty of violating international law by not evacuating nursing homes.

Civilians cannot be targets

– The most important thing for the seventh and last is that civilians cannot be the target of a conscious attack. Dot. Whatever the reason, said Crane.

– Ukraine put these people in a situation that is a kill zone. You can’t do that, he continued.

The Associated Press, together with PBS, have documented, based on a large number of sources, hundreds of attacks in Ukraine that may amount to war crimes. Russia represents the majority. But some, including the nursing home in Stara Krasnjanka, point out that Ukrainian soldiers are at fault too.