Ukraine tops world's cluster munition casualties for second year straight - HRW

The HRW organization's website says.

In 2023, 219 deaths from cluster munitions or their remnants were recorded in nine countries. For the second year in a row, Ukraine has the highest number of casualties from this type of projectile.

According to HRW, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian aggression in Ukraine, a total of 1,023 casualties from cluster munitions have been recorded, of which 980 were killed directly by the munitions and another 43 by their remnants.

The organization notes that the data may be inaccurate, as some casualties from numerous cluster munition attacks in Ukraine last year may have been unrecorded. For example, more than 50 attacks with cluster munitions were reported in Ukraine last year, but the number of casualties was not recorded.

The report states that 93% of the reported cluster munition casualties were civilians, of which 47% were children killed or injured.

HRW notes that both Russia and Ukraine used cluster munitions in 2023 and the first half of 2024, but Russian forces used these munitions in densely populated urban areas.

"It was impossible to systematically document and identify the further use of these weapons due to the lack of access to the sites of shelling," the analysts said.

• On May 16, the Russian army struck a village in the Vovchansk community with cluster munitions.