KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine has documented the deaths of nearly 300 civilians from mines left by Russia and is collecting evidence for the International Criminal Court, Kyiv’s domestic security service said on Friday.
Russia’s February 2022 invasion has ravaged wide swathes of Ukrainian land and resulted in tens of thousands of civilian casualties, according to the United Nations.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement more than 1,000 Ukrainians have been injured and 297 killed, mostly in the eastern Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, by mines of various types.
“To disguise the weapons, the occupiers use various common items including children’s toys and candy boxes,” it said.
“Additionally, Russian sabotage groups very often set up minefields to cover their retreat from front line and border areas.”
Russia has denied targeting civilians during its invasion, which has also included airstrikes on critical infrastructure in population centres far behind the front lines.
The SBU said it was preparing a “large-scale base of evidence” and would send it to The Hague once there was enough.
Also on Friday, prosecutors in the Kharkiv region said they launched a war-crimes investigation after six people were injured by a mine explosion.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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