The circumstances of the explosion of an ammunition depot in the village of Mila, Kyiv region, which resulted in the death of civilians, require assessment not only from the point of view of possible military official crimes, said lawyer, former Deputy Prosecutor General, who previously oversaw the investigation of international crimes in the Office of the Prosecutor General, and currently holds the position of Deputy Head of the Military Law Enforcement Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Gunduz Mamedov.

“If it is established that a significant amount of ammunition was stored in the immediate vicinity of a residential area, the investigation should verify compliance with applicable international humanitarian law. Article 58 of Additional Protocol I provides for the obligation of parties to a conflict to avoid, to the maximum extent possible, the location of military objectives in or near densely populated areas, and to take the necessary measures to protect the civilian population from the dangers arising from military operations,” he wrote in X.

Mamedov noted that the mere location of a military facility next to residential buildings does not automatically allow one to draw a conclusion about the presence of a war crime. For a legal assessment, it is first necessary to establish the circumstances of the location of the facility, the availability of practicable alternatives, the nature and quantity of ammunition stored, risk assessment and precautions taken..

And the circumstances of the Russian strike itself will require a separate assessment, in particular its compliance with the principles of delimitation, proportionality and taking precautionary measures during an attack.

“International humanitarian law establishes obligations for both parties to the conflict. Therefore, possible violations must be carefully checked, regardless of which party they may be incriminated against.. It is fundamentally important for Ukraine to be consistent in observing these norms and responsible to its own citizens,” the lawyer emphasized.

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The explosion of an ammunition warehouse in the village of Mila, Buchansky district, near Kyiv, began on the evening of Friday, August 28. A boarding house for people with disabilities and the elderly suffered significant damage - most of the dead were its residents.

On the morning of Sunday, August 30, President Vladimir Zelensky said that as a result of the strike and subsequent detonation, 38 people were killed, including the head of the Dmitrov OTG Taras Didich. Four more people are still missing. Twenty people were injured, including two children..

He noted that rescuers managed to put out most of the fires, and the pyrotechnic units of the State Emergency Service are working on site around the clock to detect and neutralize explosive objects..

According to Suspilny, local residents have already filed 230 reports of damaged property.. Most of them are from the village of Mila, where the detonation occurred, but there is also damage in neighboring Petrushki, Shpitki and Dmitrovka.

The SBU opened a criminal case into the fact of a Russian strike on warehouses in the village of Mila in the Buchansky district of the Kyiv region and the secondary detonation of ammunition under articles on the crime of aggression and negligent attitude towards military service.