New Delhi: Ukraine's ambassador and human rights groups have accused Russia of using cluster & vacuum bombs to attack Ukraine both of which have been condemned by various international organizations, Reuters reported.
These bombs are considered to be the most dangerous non-nuclear weapons. A vacuum bomb, or thermobaric weapon, sucks in oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, typically producing a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than that of a conventional explosive and is capable of vaporizing human bodies. Meanwhile, Cluster munitions are a type of weapon meant to break open in the air and scatter smaller explosives or submunitions over a wide area.
Ukraine ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, while speaking to the reporters after meeting with members of the U.S. Congress said that the Russians used a vacuum bomb on a pre-school, where a lot of people were hiding.
"They used the vacuum bomb today," Markarova said after a meeting with lawmakers. "...The devastation that Russia is trying to inflict on Ukraine is large", she was quoted by Reuters.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both have accused Russia to have used cluster bombs, which has been widely banned, Amnesty accused them of attacking a preschool in northeastern Ukraine while civilians took shelter inside.
There has been no official confirmation that thermobaric weapons have been used in the conflict in Ukraine. But CNN reported that one of its teams saw a Russian thermobaric multiple rocket launcher near the Ukrainian border early on Saturday afternoon.
Amnesty International said that international humanitarian law prohibits such attacks using indiscriminate weapons to kill or injure civilians which constitutes a war crime.
The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Markarova said Ukraine was working actively with the Biden administration and Congress to obtain more weapons and tougher sanctions.
"They should pay, they should pay a heavy price," she told reporters after leaving the meeting.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that while she has seen such report she had no actual confirmation of the weapons, "If that were true, it would potentially be a war crime," she told a press briefing, noting that there are international organizations that would assess that and President Joe Biden's administration "would look to be a part of that conversation", according to Reuters.