Ukraine civilian casualties mount, Rajnath vouches for 'smart' ammo

Even as civilian casualties mounted in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, India’s defence minister underlined the need for smart and precision-guided ammunition that would avoid collateral damage, reports Sanjib Kr Baruah

New Delhi:In the 150 days since the Russian 'special operation' in Ukraine from February 24 till Monday, 12,272 civilian casualties have been recorded in the war zone including 5,237 killed and 7,035 injured.

These cases—each of which has been verified by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)—include 2,019 men, 1,379 women, 143 girls, and 164 boys, as well as 41 children and 1,491 adults whose sex is yet unknown. The majority of the civilian and non-combatant casualties have taken place in the conflict-torn Donetsk and Luhansk regions (3,089 killed and 3,760 injured).

According to reports, the Russian military is firing over 20,000 artillery shells every day while Ukraine is firing some 6,000 shells daily possibly indicating that ‘dumb’ munitions have assumed primacy with guided and smart munition stocks reaching critical levels. Underlining the importance of smart, precision-guided and artificial intelligence-based ammunition that will define the future of warfare, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh harked back to the central codes of the Geneva Convention which included provisions protecting civilians in and around a war-zone besides defining the rights and protections to non-combatants.

In a statement that has significance in the backdrop of the ongoing Ukraine conflict where there have been a lot of casualties among the non-combatants and civilian population, Singh said: “Wars are fought with the country’s military, not with its people. Through precision ammunition, destruction of civil establishments can be avoided and the values of peace and humanity in times of war can be preserved”.

“If any enemy base is to be destroyed, then precision ammunition will selectively target it and not any civil establishments. This is not the case with traditional ammunition.” Singh was speaking at the inaugural session of the second conference on Military Ammunition (Ammo India) on the theme ‘Make in India Opportunities and Challenges’ in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Describing advanced ammunition as the reality of the new age warfare, which is a must for India, given its regional and global imperatives and security challenges, the minister added: “Scientific and technological as well as the economic development of a nation is reflected in the capacity of its weapons and ammunition.”