Amnesty International's representative in Ukraine resigns after a report criticized by Kyiv

The head of Amnesty International in Ukraine Oksana Pokalchuk announced her resignation after a report by the non-governmental organization accused the Ukrainian armed forces of endangering civilians, angering Kyiv.

"I announce my resignation from Amnesty International in Ukraine," Pokalchuk said in a statement on her Facebook page, saying that the report, published on August 4, inadvertently served "Russian media propaganda."

On Friday, Amnesty International confirmed that it bears full responsibility for its report, which accuses the Ukrainian army of endangering civilians in its resistance to the Russian invasion, by deploying military infrastructure in populated areas.

The publication of the document the previous day angered Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky went so far as to accuse the NGO of "trying to vindicate the Russian state by more or less equating the victim with the aggressor."

"He who does not live in a country invaded by occupiers who divide it, may not understand the meaning of condemning an army of defenders," Pokalchuk said.

She added that she had unsuccessfully tried to convince the Amnesty International management that the report was biased and did not take into account the views of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Amnesty confirmed that it had contacted Ukrainian Defense Ministry officials on July 29 regarding its findings, but had not received a response in time before the release of its report.

Kalchuk argued that Amnesty gave too little time for the Defense Department to respond.

"As a result, the organization inadvertently released a report that seemed to unwittingly support the Russian narrative," she added, arguing that, in order to protect civilians, this report had turned into a Russian propaganda tool.

Kalchuk wrote in a Facebook post that Amnesty had ignored requests from her team not to publish the report.

In its report, after a four-month investigation, the organization accused the Ukrainian army of deploying military bases in schools and hospitals and launching attacks from populated areas, a tactic that constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law, as it put it.

But the NGO stressed at the same time that the Ukrainian tactics "in no way justify the indiscriminate Russian attacks" affecting the civilian population.

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