Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the UN agency’s spokesperson Liz Throssell said:
"Due to their wide area effects, the use of cluster munitions in populated areas is incompatible with the international humanitarian law principles governing the conduct of hostilities," Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
The UN official emphasised:
"We remind the Russian authorities that directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as so-called area bombardment in towns and villages and other forms of indiscriminate attacks, are prohibited under international law and may amount to war crimes."
It comes after a Russian air strike destroyed a hospital complex in the southeastern port city of Mariupol on Wednesday, killing three people, news outlets reported.
Ukraine on Friday also accused the Russian army of hitting a psychiatric hospital near the eastern town of Izyum, according to the Reuters news agency.
Throssell described reports of attacks on health centres in Ukraine as "shocking," Reuters reported.
The UN agency announced on Friday it has confirmed the deaths of 564 civilians in Ukraine, including 41 children, since the Russian attack on the country began on February 24. It added that the real toll is believed to be considerably higher, according to Reuters.
(pm)
Source: PAP, Reuters, abcnews.com