Rostislav Zhuravlev
On Saturday, a Russian war reporter was killed and three others were injured in what Moscow claimed was a cluster munition by Ukraine, provoking political outcry.
The defence ministry stated that the wounded journalists were evacuated from the battlefield after coming under fire in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia area.
According to the report, Rostislav Zhuravlev, who worked for the state news agency RIA, died while being transported.
The ministry provided no evidence that Ukraine had used cluster munitions in the incident, and the media was unable to confirm the claim.
Ukraine acquired cluster bombs from the United States this month but has committed to use them only to disperse enemy troop concentrations.
Many countries prohibit the weapons because they distribute bomblets that shower shrapnel over a large area, endangering civilians. Some do not usually detonate right away but can blow up years later.
“The use of cluster munitions was inhuman”, said Konstantin Kosachyov, the deputy speaker of the upper house of parliament, and culpability rested with both Ukraine and the United States.
It was dubbed a monstrous crime by Leonid Slutsky, a lower house party leader.
Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy said, “I wonder what US public opinion thinks of their country crossing all moral red lines in a futile attempt to save crumbling corrupt Kyiv regime”.
Their replies ignored the reality that human rights organizations and the UN had recorded Russia’s deployment of cluster bombs during the war.
Human Rights Watch, headquartered in the United States, reported in May that Russian forces had deployed the weapons in attacks that resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and damage to houses, hospitals, and schools.
According to White House national security spokesman John Kirby, Ukrainian forces are employing cluster munitions appropriately and effectively against Russian formations.
Earlier on Saturday, the governor of Russia’s southern Belgorod region claimed that Ukraine had fired cluster munitions at a village barely within Russia the day before, but without causing injuries or damage. He provided no visual evidence.
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