MOSCOW, July 24 (RAPSI) – Experts from Russia’s Investigative Committee have concluded that the Ukrainian army used white phosphorus bombs against civilian targets in eastern Ukraine, a committee official said.

“An expert examination has shown that these bombs were not fired at enemy positions but at civilian targets,” Alexander Drymanov, head of the Investigative Committee department for crimes committed with the use of prohibited means or methods of warfare, said in an interview with Kommersant newspaper Thursday.

The Geneva Conventions prohibit the use of phosphorus against civilians.

The separatists announced in June that incendiary bombs were used against the village of Semyonovka near Slavyansk. The media alleged that they could be phosphorus bombs.

Ivan Kotlyarov, a military expert on international humanitarian law, confirmed that they were indeed phosphorus bombs.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed Russia’s concern over reports of the alleged use of incendiary bombs by the Ukrainian army.

The Kiev government launched a military operation in mid-April to suppress the anti-Maidan movement in eastern Ukraine, which did not recognize the legitimacy of the February coup in Kiev. Moscow has urged Kiev to stop the “punitive military operations,” which have claimed many lives on both sides, including innocent civilians.