Hundreds of anti personnel mines were rained down on the civilian populated centre of Donetsk City on the night of Saturday July 30th littering the streets, parks and residential gardens in the aftermath. Donetsk authorities said a large number of those petal mines were also found in the vicinity of a school in the city’s Kirov district. They are camouflaged in a green colour to make them difficult to see in foliage and grassy areas.
A Geneva Convention War Crime
The first such attack on Donetsk took place on the night of July 28th. Authorities warned the city’s residents that those anti-personnel mines could be found anywhere in the city and urged the citizens not to touch those explosive devices under any circumstances. The use of those ‘Lepestok’ cluster mines is banned under international humanitarian law and their use constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
Zelensky’s Sinister Demand
Transport networks were suspended across the city while ongoing clear-up operations were undertaken. The overnight shelling that rained those terrorist devices down on the city’s population took place shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered troops and civilians to urgently evacuate from Donetsk. Ukraine is now unconscionably attacking, terrorising and maiming its own people in the Russian occupied areas in an apparent effort to drive them out.
Maiming Devices
These tiny bombs shaped like the petals of a flower were found littering the civilian centre of Donetsk, in the vicinity of the city’s university, recreational and other civilian areas. Those vicious devices don’t necessarily kill but they maim and even tear off limbs. This amounts to a deliberate attack on the civilian population and constitutes a nasty war crime.
Difficult to Spot
City authorities warned residents to walk only on paved areas and to avoid shortcuts and grassy areas, asking them to “watch your step carefully, walk only on asphalt”. “Beware of mines” warnings are left next to them when found. Traces of their explosions can be seen on the cities asphalt. Those discovering them are requested to immediately call emergency services when they come across any of those maiming mines. They are camouflaged and difficult to spot on grass or other unpaved areas.
Ukrainian military “Lepestok” mines
Additionally, on July 29th residents of Novoluhanske in the DNR also found extensive scatterings of “Lepestok” mines that had been left by the Ukrainian military as a defiant gesture during their retreat. They were found strategically placed in the grass and in the yards and lawns of people’s houses. Residents in those areas who stumbled across those explosive devices were the first casualties of this vicious and ongoing Ukrainian attacks on their own civilian population.