This is the anti-bunker bomb with which Putin destroyed schools and hospitals in Syria and which he could use in Ukraine

The massacre of Russian troops on civilians does not stop in Ukraine. In fact, this Friday the UN accused Vladimir Putin's army of actions that could amount to “war crimes”.

“The Russian armed forces indiscriminately bombed inhabited areas, killed civilians and destroyed hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, in actions that could amount to war crimes,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Russia's intervention in Syria had not been much different since it also mercilessly attacked civilians there. Putin used the “BETAB-500 ShP” to destroy hospitals and schools in Aleppo. That was the main bomb that Russia used to devastate the east of that city.

Designed to drill reinforced concrete and penetrate deep underground before exploding, the “BETAB-500″ can knock down entire buildings. They are usually used to attack reinforced targets, such as ammunition storage sites, bunkers, underground targets or reinforced shelters for aircraft.

Allegedly, Russia has used them since joining Bashar Al Assad's air campaign in Syria to destroy Islamic State's (ISIS) underground bunkers and weapons caches. But the truth is that they were also deployed in an urban environment full of civilians.

According to Kenan Rahmani, senior defense adviser to The Syria Campaign and human rights defender, this bomb can be used at any time in Ukraine. “This is the bomb that Putin used to destroy hospitals and schools in Aleppo,” he said in a tweet, accompanying the message with an image that reviews the main characteristics of the weapon in question.

The characteristics of the “BETAB-500″

Calibre, kg 500

Length, mm 2225

Body diameter, mm ø350

Wingspan of the caudal fin, mm 450

Characteristic time, s 20.6/2

Explosive weight, kg 76

Pump weight, kg 475

The concern of the UN

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that “it is up to a court to specifically determine whether this is the case, but there is increasing evidence that war crimes were committed” in Ukraine.

In a parallel statement, Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that “for the past eight weeks, international humanitarian law has not only been ignored but thrown overboard.”

“What we saw in Kramatorsk (eastern Ukraine) on 8 April, when the train station was attacked with cluster munitions and 60 civilians were killed and 111 others were injured, is emblematic of the inability to respect the principle of distinction (between civilians and military), the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks and the precautionary principle, which is inscribed in international humanitarian law,” said Bachelet, indirectly accusing Russia.

For his part, Shamdasani indicated that 92.3% of the victims that teams under Bachelet's leadership were able to document “are attributed to Russian forces, as well as accusations of murder and summary executions.”

The official specifically explained that the UN investigators carried out a mission to Ukraine in early April and were able to document “the murders, some of them summary executions”, of 50 civilians in the city of Bucha, just outside Kiev.

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