<p>Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that it uncovered new evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022.</p>.<p>The group called on Ukraine's government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible.</p>.<p>"The Ukrainian government’s pledge to investigate its military’s apparent use of banned anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians," Steve Goose, Human Rights Watch's arms director, said in a statement.</p>.<p><strong>Also read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/ukraine-accuses-man-of-treason-over-deadly-russian-missile-attack-1232349.html" target="_blank">Ukraine accuses man of treason over deadly Russian missile attack</a></strong></p>.<p>HRW said it shared its findings with the Ukrainian government in a May letter to which it received no response.</p>.<p>Ukraine's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a <em>Reuters </em>request for comment.</p>.<p>Ukraine in 2005 ratified a 1997 international treaty banning such mines and mandating the destruction of stocks of the weapons.</p>.<p>Russia did not join the treaty and its use of anti-personnel mines "violates international humanitarian law ... because they are inherently indiscriminate," the report said.</p>.<p>Anti-personnel mines are detonated by a person's presence, proximity or contact and can kill and maim long after a conflict ends.</p>.<p>Since Russia's February 2022 invasion, HRW has published four reports documenting the use by Russian troops of 13 types of anti-personnel mines that killed and injured civilians.</p>.<p>The new report is a follow-on to a January report that Ukrainian soldiers fired rockets that scattered thousands of PMF-1 mines in Russian-occupied areas in and around the eastern city of Izium between April and September 2022, when Kyiv's forces recaptured it.</p>.<p>The latest report said that fresh evidence of Ukrainian forces' use of anti-personnel mines in 2002 came from photographs posted online by an individual working in eastern Ukraine that showed warhead sections of Uragan 220mm rockets.</p>.<p>Those rockets each indiscriminately disburse 312 PFM-1S anti-personnel mines, said the report.</p>.<p>Analysis of handwriting on one warhead determined that the first word was Ukrainian for "from," while a second Latin alphabet word related to an organization in Kyiv, which the report did not identify.</p>.<p>The person who headed the organization - also unidentified - had social media posts "indicating that they had donated funds to the Ukrainian military via a non-governmental organization (NGO)."</p>.<p>Photographs of Uragan warheads posted online bearing messages written in Ukrainian were linked to a different Ukraine-based group, the report said. </p>
<p>Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that it uncovered new evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022.</p>.<p>The group called on Ukraine's government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible.</p>.<p>"The Ukrainian government’s pledge to investigate its military’s apparent use of banned anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians," Steve Goose, Human Rights Watch's arms director, said in a statement.</p>.<p><strong>Also read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/ukraine-accuses-man-of-treason-over-deadly-russian-missile-attack-1232349.html" target="_blank">Ukraine accuses man of treason over deadly Russian missile attack</a></strong></p>.<p>HRW said it shared its findings with the Ukrainian government in a May letter to which it received no response.</p>.<p>Ukraine's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a <em>Reuters </em>request for comment.</p>.<p>Ukraine in 2005 ratified a 1997 international treaty banning such mines and mandating the destruction of stocks of the weapons.</p>.<p>Russia did not join the treaty and its use of anti-personnel mines "violates international humanitarian law ... because they are inherently indiscriminate," the report said.</p>.<p>Anti-personnel mines are detonated by a person's presence, proximity or contact and can kill and maim long after a conflict ends.</p>.<p>Since Russia's February 2022 invasion, HRW has published four reports documenting the use by Russian troops of 13 types of anti-personnel mines that killed and injured civilians.</p>.<p>The new report is a follow-on to a January report that Ukrainian soldiers fired rockets that scattered thousands of PMF-1 mines in Russian-occupied areas in and around the eastern city of Izium between April and September 2022, when Kyiv's forces recaptured it.</p>.<p>The latest report said that fresh evidence of Ukrainian forces' use of anti-personnel mines in 2002 came from photographs posted online by an individual working in eastern Ukraine that showed warhead sections of Uragan 220mm rockets.</p>.<p>Those rockets each indiscriminately disburse 312 PFM-1S anti-personnel mines, said the report.</p>.<p>Analysis of handwriting on one warhead determined that the first word was Ukrainian for "from," while a second Latin alphabet word related to an organization in Kyiv, which the report did not identify.</p>.<p>The person who headed the organization - also unidentified - had social media posts "indicating that they had donated funds to the Ukrainian military via a non-governmental organization (NGO)."</p>.<p>Photographs of Uragan warheads posted online bearing messages written in Ukrainian were linked to a different Ukraine-based group, the report said. </p>