New York: Whoever carried out last weekend`s deadly rocket attacks on the government-held port city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine intentionally targeted civilians, which would constitute a war crime, a senior UN official said on Monday.
"Mariupol lies outside of the immediate conflict zone," UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman told the Security Council during an emergency meeting on Ukraine. He noted that crater analysis by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) indicated the shells came from rebel territory.
"The conclusion can thus be drawn that the entity which fired these rockets knowingly targeted a civilian population," he added. "This would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law." Some 30 civilians were killed in the Mariupol attack, according to the Kiev government.
