AMNESTY International is standing by its highly critical report on Ukraine after the head of its branch in the country resigned, accusing the human rights group of peddling pro-Russian propaganda. 

The study, published last Thursday, accused the Ukrainian armed forces of “endangering civilian lives” by deploying soldiers and military hardware in schools, hospitals and residential areas. 

It said that these actions were in breach of the Geneva conventions, while stressing this was no excuse for Russia’s indiscriminate shelling of residential areas.