Murder tools of the Ukraine war: what international law forbids
International humanitarian law governs how wars should be waged. It’s about limiting suffering. Among soldiers, but especially among civilians. Military leaders must therefore take precautions to avoid civilian casualties or civilian objects damaged. And there are international treaties and agreements that regulate the use of certain weapons in the respective conflicts.
For example, biological and chemical warfare agents are banned, and a nuclear weapons ban treaty has been in effect for over a year. That’s the theory. In the event of war, however, many taboos are broken and weapons are used that are prohibited by the UN Weapons Convention. Since the 2010s, their use has increased again – and the Ukraine war is also partly waged with such particularly cruel killing machines.
Cluster Bombs: The Hidden Danger
For example so-called glass mines, also known as cluster or fragmentation bombs. They consist of many small explosive devices that are spread over a large radius when dropped and contain splinters that cannot be detected by X-raying an injured person. Because they don’t always detonate completely on impact, they lie around as highly explosive waste and become a lethal hazard, especially for children playing.
Violations of international law by both warring parties
The US accuses Russia of using cluster bombs in Ukraine. According to Amnesty International, it has evidence that the Russian military is using cluster bombs in the current conflict – as it did earlier in Syria. Ukraine is also said to have used cluster munitions in the 2014 dispute with Russia over Donbass and Crimea, as Wenzel Michalski from Human Rights Watch reported in the Tagesschau at the time, based on an analysis of the angle of impact.
In the current conflict, Ukraine accuses the Russian attackers of detonating vacuum bombs, which are illegal under international law. There have also been unverified reports of chemical warfare agents being used by drones.
Deadly teddy bears
Another internationally banned type of weapon are anti-personnel mines, which are detonated by touch, vibration, tripwires or remote triggers. Particularly perfidious: so-called booby traps, explosive traps that are hidden in Coke cans or teddy bears, i.e. specifically targeting children.
Frank Sauer from the Bundeswehr University, an expert on security policy and known for the podcast “Sicherheitshalber”, reports:
“I know for sure that anti-personnel mines are being used in Ukraine, by both sides (…) on the lists that the US administration issues, everything that is supplied to Ukraine, there are always anti-personnel mines, for example from Type Claymore.” Frank Sauer, political scientist
Who signed the ban on mines – and who didn’t
The Ottawa Treaty not only prohibits the use of so-called anti-personnel mines, it also prohibits possession and transfer. Almost every country in the world has signed and ratified the agreement, including Germany. But not Russia and the USA.
Exactly this is a sore point of almost all international agreements. Individual states, often great powers and even manufacturers of weapons of war, boycott the treaties and break taboos.
A for apocalypse: the last taboo
The biggest taboo so far is the use of nuclear weapons – Putin has threatened to do so several times in the Ukraine conflict. The Ministry of Defense in Berlin takes this seriously. Colonel Ralf Feldotto, responsible for worldwide threat assessment, judges: “In terms of the probability of deployment, I would say: We cannot rule it out.”
There are international treaties outlawing nuclear weapons. Like most NATO countries, however, Russia has not signed the nuclear weapons ban treaty that came into force a good year ago. And in 2019, the Trump administration scrapped the INF treaty (INF stands for Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces) to abolish intermediate-range nuclear missiles. According to security researcher Frank Sauer, it was precisely this treaty that protected Europe from nuclear war for 30 years.
“We must watch with great concern how arms control is slipping through our fingers. There is little trust and desire to sign new treaties. We are living in a kind of arms control winter” Frank Sauer
After all, even in times like these there are campaigns that advocate new and stronger rules in conflict. Around 100 states and organizations are currently fighting for a ban on heavy explosive weapons in residential areas. At a conference in Geneva, an agreement for better protection of inhabited areas was being prepared.