Amnesty says Russia’s use of cluster munitions caused widespread civilian deaths in Kharkiv.

Russian forces killed hundreds of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv by bombarding residential neighborhoods with rockets and cluster munitions, Amnesty International said in a new report on Monday.

The repeated attacks were indiscriminate “and as such constitute war crimes,” Amnesty said.

The report adds to evidence of a widespread civilian deaths since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The United Nations human rights office said last week it had documented 4,339 civilian deaths in Ukraine since the start of the war. The office said it believed the actual total was much higher, but it was unable to receive accurate counts from areas where fighting remained intense.

Ukrainian officials have said as many as 20,000 civilians may have been killed during the weekslong siege of Mariupol, which Russia took over last month.

Russia has previously denied intentionally attacking civilians. Read more

@nytimes