Pokalčuková said that AI had inadvertently “created material that sounded like support for the Russian invasion narrative”. According to him, the report became a Russian propaganda tool in an effort to protect civilians.

“I admit with pain that we do not agree on values ​​with the leadership of Amnesty International. That is why I decided to leave the organization,” Pokalčuková wrote on Facebook late Friday, according to Reuters.

AI director Agnès Callamard said “Oksana is a valuable member” of the organization. However, AI respects its decision and is preparing a statement in response to criticism of Thursday’s report.

The NGO said in the document that from April to July, its staff spent several weeks investigating Russian attacks in Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv. Investigations revealed that Ukrainian forces in some cases carried out attacks from residential areas and that they deployed troops to civilian buildings in these areas. At the same time, according to the report, AI found no evidence that the Ukrainian army requested or assisted civilians to evacuate nearby buildings.

President Zelenskyi dismissed the AI ​​accusations and stated that the organization was “trying to shift responsibility from the attackers to the victims”. According to its officials, Ukraine is doing everything it can to evacuate civilians from areas near the front lines.

Since the beginning of the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, despite overwhelming evidence and testimony, Russia has maintained that it did not attack civilian targets. AI has previously confirmed Russian strikes on civilian areas, according to which Russian forces have committed war crimes in some cases. The Ukrainian military’s practice of deploying troops to populated areas in no way justifies random Russian attacks on civilian targets, including attacks with internationally banned munitions, the organization said on Thursday.