Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova:
аfter the liberation of cities in the Kyiv region, new atrocities of Russian troops are revealed. In the bodies of residents of Bucha and Irpin, forensic experts found sharpened darts – flechettes – pointed steel projectiles. With them, the Russian launched munitions, which bombed residential buildings in the city and its surroundings.
In Bucha, liberated from the Russian occupiers, locals found hundreds of these small darts in their private estates. Shells exploded over apartment buildings, and thousands of flechettes flew several meters around.
Warheads filled with shrapnel exploded over the city as Russian troops prepared to leave the area.
Flechettes were used during the First World War against infantry. Due to the indiscriminate nature of the action and the uncontrollability, the use of such weapons in densely populated cities is a violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and a crime against humanity.