Torsten Heinrich wrote that the Russian military blogger "Joint Forces Group West" admitted that since the end of September, their own soldiers had been evacuated disguised as civilians from Kupjansk. The soldiers had sought out civilians themselves to form groups and disguise convoys; in some cases, civilians had been persuaded to do so. According to Heinrich, the blogger confirmed recent Ukrainian accusations that civilians had been used as human shields. Heinrich described the evacuation of disguised soldiers as a permissible wartime tactic, provided that it was not intended to kill, injure, or capture Ukrainians. However, the use of civilians to protect military targets, in his assessment, violates Article 51, Paragraph 7 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. #Kriegsrecht #Zivilschutz #Ukraine (translated)


