Cluster munitions and vacuum bombs, explained: The war crime allegations against Russia

FAEs can be "pretty horrific" but they aren't banned. Despite the screeching from the International Karen League (AKA Amnesty International) about "Vacuum Bombs" we haven't seen any indication of either side using any weapons that would be a war crime for the weapon itself -- the real issue is all about targeting.

Are the Russians deliberately targeting civilians or are those civilians simply some of the collateral damage that is bound to occur in urban warfare? I'm sure that there have been at least some cases where civilian areas were targeted, but were those areas targeted deliberately as civilian areas or was there a military reason. My guess is that at least some of the areas targeted were 'war crimes' but no one responsible will actually be prosecuted because only the losing side has to worry about being prosecuted (unless some Russian officer manages to piss off Putin after the operation is finished).

Agree with your assessment. FAE's were new munitions in Viet Nam, I called in an air strike after having been warned to maintain at least a 1/2 klick standoff since they were not sure of radius and the blast over pressure caused us to lose our breath (literally) as it went off. Definitely ( at that time at least) not a danger close call in.