Russia is continuing its attack on Ukraine, which began on February 24, and is intensifying the bombings on various cities in the country. On several occasions in recent days, Ukrainian authorities have accused Russian forces of using white phosphorus bombs, which are particularly dangerous incendiary weapons.
What are they? How is the use of these weapons regulated? Have white phosphorus bombs ever been used? Le Monde explains.
Why is Ukraine accusing Russia of using white phosphorus bombs?
"Russian aviation began dropping phosphorus bombs on Roubizhne," near Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine, the region's governor, Serhiy Hayday, accused on Thursday March 24. At least four people died in the shelling, including two children, and six others were wounded, according to the governor. "The Russians are in agony, they can't advance, that's why they started using heavy weapons," Hayday added.
The day before, the mayor of Irpin, a city on the outskirts of Kyiv, accused Russian forces on his Telegram account of using the same type of weapons the previous day, denouncing a "crime against humanity." Oleksandr Markushin referred to the a Ukrainian journalist Oleh Hryb's photographs, showing white streaks falling from the sky in the middle of the night. Contacted by BFM-TV, the mayor said: "Specialists must come to confirm this 100%. Today, we consider at 90% that they are phosphorus bombs."
Interviewed on BFM-TV on March 23, the Ukrainian ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, was not able to confirm the use of white phosphorus in Irpin. He did, however, assure that Ukraine had "evidence" of various similar attacks in the country, which will be forwarded to the International Criminal Court.
What is a white phosphorus bomb?
White phosphorus is a chemical substance that ignites when exposed to oxygen. The chemical reaction then creates heat of about 815°C, light, and heavy white smoke. In the 1830s, phosphorus was used in the development of the match industry, before it was banned in 1910 due to its toxicity.
In military environments, white phosphorus can be used for a variety of purposes. Among them, to create smoke screens, to conceal troop movements, and to light up strategic areas. Some armed forces, however, use it as an incendiary weapon targeting people or equipment.
"Incendiary weapons are among the cruelest weapons used in armed conflicts in the world today," Human Rights Watch (HRW) points out for its part, in a report published in 2018. In another report dated November 2015, the NGO explains that "white phosphorus can cause horrific injuries no matter how it is used." It is "highly soluble in fat and therefore in human flesh," HRW writes. When white phosphorus comes into contact with the skin, it causes severe thermal and chemical burns, often to the bone. "Burns to as little as 10% of the body are often fatal," HRW says.
Is the use of white phosphorus bombs allowed?
White phosphorus bombs are not chemical weapons (asphyxiating or toxic substances) – the use of which is prohibited by the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (CWC) since 1997. They fall into the category of incendiary weapons. Their use is codified by Protocol III to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), signed in Geneva and enforced since 1983. This treaty has 115 state parties, including France the United States Russia and Ukraine.
This text aims to proscribe or limit the use of such weapons "which may be deemed to produce excessive traumatic effects or to strike indiscriminately". To this end, CCW Protocol III "prohibits under all circumstances" the use of incendiary weapons against civilians or civilian objects (all objects that are not military objectives). In addition, "a military objective located within a concentration of civilians" may not be attacked with incendiary weapons.
Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in effect since 2002, provides the most recent definition of what constitutes a war crime. "The destruction of property not justified by military necessity" and the act of "intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or civilian objects" are thus prohibited. If proven, breaches of Protocol III of the CCW may therefore constitute war crimes.
Interviewed on BFM-TV on March 23, military historian and former colonel Michel Goya spoke bluntly of an "authorized" but "disgusting" weapon. In its 2018 report, Human Rights Watch denounced "shortcomings" of the CCW Protocol III that limit its ability to protect civilians:
– Its definition of incendiary weapons excludes so-called "general-purpose" ammunition, including ammunition containing white phosphorus. They set fire and cause burns but are, officially, primarily designed for other uses (for example, for signaling).
– The use of air-to-surface incendiary weapons against concentrations of civilians is prohibited. But the use of surface-to-surface incendiary weapons is permitted in populated areas when the military objective is "clearly separated from the concentration of civilians and when all feasible precautions are taken."
"The humanitarian benefits of a total ban on incendiary weapons would be immense," Human Rights Watch concludes.
Have white phosphorus bombs ever been used?
Incendiary bombs have been used on several occasions during recent armed conflicts. This is particularly the case in Syria, a country that has not signed Protocol III of the CCW. Human Rights Watch has counted thirty such attacks, including white phosphorus bombs, by the Syrian-Russian military alliance in the first seven months of 2018. From November 2012 to November 2017, the NGO documented more than ninety incendiary weapon attacks in the country.
Israel, which is also not a state party to the treaty, was accused of "war crimes" by Amnesty International after the use of white phosphorus bombs in Gaza during the winter of 2008-2009. The Israeli army had acknowledged using this type of weapon during the second Lebanon war in the summer of 2006. The same bombs that the United States launched in Iraq, during the battle of Fallujah, in November 2004, against the rebel forces that had taken control of the city.
White phosphorus munitions were also used by the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State organization in Iraq and Syria in 2017, and by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen in 2016. More recently, in late 2020, Azerbaijani forces used white phosphorus ammunition against Armenian military personnel on the Nagorno-Karabakh front.