Smerch (“Tornado”) rockets, which release fragmentation submunitions, were used in this attack. An investigation from the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) found that thirty-two projectiles were fired from four Smerch systems from separatist-controlled territory.

Submunitions found at the attack site. Source: IPHR report

Russian response

Again, Russia redirects the argument to claiming that the target of the deadly Kramatorsk rocket attack was a military base. However, the IPHR investigation into the attack would disagree with the Russian assessment:

A legal assessment of the attack revealed several grave violations of international customary law: the indiscriminate nature of the attack, the direct attack on civilians and the violation of proportionality. The attack can thus be qualified as a war crime and should be investigated by the relevant authorities in the framework of international law and armed conflicts.

Conclusion

The incidents cited by Ukrainian representatives are well-known and have been analyzed by numerous analysts, including at DFRLab. The Russian legal response has been interesting for its hesitation to advance many of the same arguments that have been seen on Russian state media — claiming that many of these attacks were actually carried out by Ukrainian, not separatist, forces.

Many of the other claims made by Russian representatives are absurd when we consider the available open source information, especially the claim that Russia has not provided weapons or funds to separatist forces. The Russian argument instead claims that separatists have only primarily seized Ukrainian weapons and old Soviet weapons left in the “coal mines” of the Donbas. This begs the question — what would be the secondary source of these weapons, if the primary source of separatist armories is coal mine treasure and trophies from victories over Ukrainian forces?

The Russian representatives likely took this claim of old Soviet weapons in mines from the example of Ukrainian-controlled Bakhmut (see Yevropeiska Pravda). This mine was a storage base for Ukrainian military unit 2730 and located here, as seen on Wikimapia. However, as noted by Euromaidan Press, separatists did not manage to seize this location in 2014, thus could not have used its weapons in its 2014 offensives against Ukrainian forces. This does not even begin to consider the question of how separatist forces managed to acquire equipment exclusively used in the Russian Armed Forces and not exported, such as the T72-B3 tank.

The ICJ has not yet ruled on the case, though both Ukraine and Russia have completed their hearings. We will continue to monitor the case, along with any future influence the case may have in altering Russia’s support of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.