Deputy Prime Minister on Amnesty International report: Ukrainian Armed Forces repeatedly call for evacuation of civilians

IRYNA BALACHUK, OLEKSANDR SHUMILIN – THURSDAY, 4 AUGUST 2022, 20:41

Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine responsible for evacuation, has criticised the Amnesty International report which claims that it has not come across any instances of the Ukrainian Armed Forces calling for the evacuation of civilians or helping to organise evacuation from buildings at the epicentre of hostilities.

Source: Vereshchuk in an interview for Ukrainska Pravda

Quote from Vereshchuk: "The process of evacuation is extremely complicated. Unfortunately, there is no-one we can appeal to when Russia ruthlessly violates people’s rights, when it violates the Geneva Conventions and every other convention. All those [human rights] organisations are powerless and inadequate, they can do nothing about it.

The same human rights organisation that has authored this report knows full well what the [Russian] occupiers are doing on the temporarily occupied territories [of Ukraine], but it doesn’t want to talk about it because doing so would reveal the lack of mechanisms at their disposal to hold the terrorist state accountable."

Details: Vereshchuk noted that the Ukrainian forces regularly appeal with requests to "urgently evacuate civilians" and do everything they can to help with evacuations on the ground.

Quote from Vereshchuk: "But the enemy is wickedly using our civilians as a human shield, they are equipping their strong points and firing positions in our hospitals, schools, and private houses. They are deliberately corralling our women and children into buildings that they then use to fire from on our positions."

Earlier:

• On 4 August, Amnesty International released a report which states that Ukrainian forces have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, as they repelled the Russian invasion.
• Meanwhile, Amnesty International fails to even mention anywhere on its website – let alone denounce – the recent killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka.
• The Office of the Ukrainian President has said that it is only the Russian army that puts the lives of Ukrainians in harm’s way and has added that the claims made by Amnesty International directly participate in Russia’s campaign to discredit Ukraine. Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has said that he was outraged by the claims made by Amnesty International and that he considers them wrongful.
• Amnesty International has also stated that it was "not aware that the Ukrainian military who located themselves in civilian structures in residential areas asked or assisted civilians to evacuate nearby buildings – a failure to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians".

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Become our patron, support our work!