Per Westberg, co-founder of Amnesty International Sweden, left the organization due to a report on Ukraine's violation of the laws of war. He stated this in an interview with Svenska Dagbladet.
“I have been associated with this organization for almost sixty years. It is with a heavy heart that I end my long association with her because of Amnesty's statements about the war in Ukraine,” Westberg said.
The AI report, published on August 4, says that the tactics of the UAF violated international humanitarian law by turning civilian objects into military targets. Human rights activists claim that the Ukrainian military carried out strikes from residential areas in at least 19 settlements. According to them, in most of these cases, the Armed Forces of Ukraine had safe alternatives – military bases, dense forests or remote buildings.
Kyiv criticized the report of the organization. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba accused her of "creating a false balance between villain and victim." Adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak said that the words about violations by the Armed Forces of Ukraine "are in the nature of an information operation to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine and undermine the supply of weapons from Western partners."
“Everyone who amnesties Russia and creates such an informational context that some terrorist strikes are justified or understandable cannot but realize that this helps the terrorists,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said .
On August 6, Oksana Pokalchuk, director of AI's Ukrainian office, announced her resignation. She has worked for the organization for 7 years. “Everything crashed against the wall of bureaucracy and a deaf language barrier. The point is not in English, but in the fact that if you do not live in a country that the invaders have broken into and are tearing it to pieces, you probably do not understand what is wrong with condemning the army of defenders. And there are no words in any language that can convey this to someone who has not felt this pain, ”Pokalchuk wrote.
On August 7, Amnesty International (AI) apologized to Ukraine for the report. At the same time, she did not withdraw her conclusions.
“AI deeply regrets the suffering and anger caused by our report on the tactics of warfare by the Ukrainian military. AI's priority in this and every other conflict is to ensure the protection of civilians. This was our sole purpose in publishing this latest study. While we support the correctness of our findings, we regret the pain caused,” AI said in a response to Reuters.
