Ukraine rebels "knowingly targeted civilians"
Relatives pay tribute to Ukraine's Sergey Lobov, who was killed during shelling, during his funeral at a cemetary in Mariupol on Jan. 27, 2015. Getty
UNITED NATIONS -- Deadly rocket attacks on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol this weekend that "knowingly targeted civilians" violated international humanitarian law and could amount to war crimes, the U.N. political chief said Monday.
Jeffrey Feltman told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who examined the craters reported that the rockets originated from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebel separatists.
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He said Saturday's attack on Mariupol - a strategic city that could provide a land corridor into Ukraine's Crimean peninsula which Russia annexed last March -- destroyed buildings and hit a market killing "dozens of people, including women and children," and injuring over 100. Other reports put the death toll at 30.
"We must all send an unequivocal message: The perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to justice," Feltman said.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the council that "Russia's end goal (in Ukraine) remains the same: to seize more territory and move the line of Russian-controlled territory deeper and deeper into Ukraine."
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Ukraine rebels "knowingly targeted civilians"