MADRID, 11 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The investigation committee of the Russian Government on the invasion of Ukraine has accused this Saturday the Ukrainian Army and the allied forces of the Azov Battalion paramilitary organization of using the citizens of the town of Mariupol as human shields to protect themselves from Russian bombing on the city, now under control of Moscow.
“Ukrainian military and Azov nationalists, proclaimed defenders of Mariupol, have used civilians for concealment, as human shields, and have deliberately occupied positions in residential buildings, kindergartens and schools,” according to a member of the investigative committee. to the TASS agency.
From these positions “they placed heavy weapons and opened fire with them to later accuse Russia and the forces of the (self-proclaimed) Donetsk People’s Republic”, allied with Moscow, of instigating the bombings.
The committee has reached these conclusions, says the researcher, after gathering information from thousands of civilians in Mariupol, many of whom have claimed that the paramilitaries of the Azov Battalion had prohibited them from leaving the cellars after threatening to kill them or mine the exits.
The investigation committee also accuses Azov paramilitaries of shooting at civilians identified as such who were trying to escape from the city through guerrilla checkpoints.
“All these facts are recorded and also serve as the basis for initiating criminal proceedings against the authors and the people who gave them the orders,” added the investigator, on condition of anonymity.
Ukraine has completely denied similar accusations in the past and denounced Russia for carrying out an indiscriminate bombing campaign on the city that, for many days, prevented the passage of humanitarian convoys or the opening of evacuation corridors.
Ukrainian authorities estimate that thousands of people, including children, have been killed by these bombings in Mariupol, while more than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers have been captured in the city and transferred to Russia.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has pointed out that the health situation in Mariúpol is especially alarming due to the lack of drinking water and sanitary material, especially in the south of the town.
