Arthur Carpentier, Adrian Vande Castile and World Video Service
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Video investigations analyzed by NGOs and the media document the use of cluster munitions prohibited by international treaties. If the origin of the shooting is sometimes difficult to prove, some of the images point to the possible responsibility of the Russian army.
“Our strikes are carried out only on military targets and using exclusively high-precision weapons,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu assured on March 1. Statement repeated by Vladimir Putin on March 6 during a telephone conversation with Emmanuel Macron.
Live from March 9: the latest information about the war in Ukraine
Residential areas affected, civilians killed or injured, use of cluster munitions… Yet since the start of the war in Ukraine, images posted on social media have documented Russian abuses of civilians.
Particularly affected by Russian artillery and rocket fire, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, has already paid a heavy price. Le Monde’s video investigation unit has collected and analyzed dozens of photos and videos that provide information about the nature of the explosions. Several images show the use of cluster munitions and their lethal effects on civilians.
Some of the images contained in this article may be shocking.
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In February 2022, several videos of cluster bombs were filmed in Ukraine.
Cluster munitions are destructive weapons for civilians
Unlike most rockets and bombs, which contain only one explosive charge, cluster munitions contain multiple charges fired in groups. During the flight, the container opens and throws out from several tens to several hundreds of explosives, which scatter over a large area and explode near the ground or on the ground.
This so-called “non-discriminatory” weapon does not distinguish between civilians and soldiers and risks hitting houses several hundred meters from the target originally intended by the shooter.
Another danger is that a certain amount of dropped submunitions do not explode on impact and can kill civilians long after they are released. Several photographs of these explosives, which did not explode, but lie on the ground in a damaged state, were taken in Ukraine.
Because of the risks to civilians, more than a hundred countries ratified a convention in 2008 banning the use of cluster munitions. Neither Russia nor Ukraine signed it. Since 2014, NGOs have accused the two countries of using these weapons in Donbass, in eastern Ukraine.
Where are these bombs from?
The images of submunition explosions that we have been able to analyze do not by themselves allow us to determine who fired. But other videos and photographs show individual parts of the missiles and indicate the models used. In fact, these are missiles of the 9M55K family, known as “Smerch”, and, less often, 9M27K, known as “Hurricane”. Several modifications of these missiles allow the release of submunitions and equip the Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian armies.
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