Human Rights Watch accuses Kiev of using "indiscriminate and unlawful" shelling in civil war.

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23. Human Rights Watch: Russia Must Recognize Ukraine Rebels' Human Rights Abuses

Human Rights Watch documented in detail that these same insurgent forces have been running amok — taking, beating and torturing hostages, as well as wantonly threatening and beating people who are pro-Kiev. We also documented that they are implicated in at least one targeted killing of a prominent local political activist.

Insurgent forces, so strongly supported by Russia, have also committed other violations. In a report released yesterday, Human Rights Watch documented that insurgent forces have endangered medical staff and patients, violating the laws of war. The insurgent forces have threatened medical staff, stolen and destroyed medical equipment and hospital furniture, occupied hospital buildings and wards, and expropriated ambulances for transporting active fighters.

But government forces are not the only ones to fire Grad rockets into civilian areas. In the end of July, Grad rocket salvos twice hit Olenivka, a small town just south of Donetsk controlled by Ukrainian armed forces. According to local authorities, the two attacks injured four civilians, destroyed eight houses and damaged 12, including a school. Using the same methodology we established that this time insurgent forces were most likely responsible. Firing Grad rockets into populated areas is equally unlawful when done by insurgent forces.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/08/06/russia-must-recognize-ukraine-rebels-human-rights-abuses

From the UN: serious human rights abuses committed primarily by the armed groups who have seized

The report produced by the UN Human Rights Office documents a wide array of serious human rights abuses committed primarily by the armed groups who have seized control over a large part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine since mid-April. It also documents violations committed by Ukrainian forces in their efforts to recapture territory, from which armed groups are conducting operations and in which they have located military objectives.

According to the report, civilians fleeing the intense and prolonged fighting in eastern Ukraine have been targeted and killed; others have been prevented by the armed groups from leaving the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk as the Ukraine Government tightened its blockades around the two main strongholds of the armed groups. Supposedly “safe” corridors established by the Ukrainian forces to enable residents to flee from these cities, traversed areas where the fighting was ongoing. Civilians using these corridors were subsequently killed or injured.

Reports of serious human rights abuses by the armed groups have continued, including abductions involving physical and psychological torture and ill-treatment of the detainees, with many subjected to forced labour. While it is not known precisely how many people still remain in captivity, the report says that, as of 17 August, at least 468 people were believed to be still detained by various armed groups.

The report also notes that in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, harassment and discrimination have continued against Ukrainian nationals, Crimean Tatars and other minorities. “No serious attempts have been made (by Crimean authorities) to investigate allegations of human rights abuses committed by the so-called Crimean self-defence forces following the March ‘referendum’.

http://www.un.org.ua/images/stories/press_release_English_final_29_August.doc