Russian troops in Ukraine are attacking only military targets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday, commenting on the news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, would launch a probe into possible war crimes in Ukraine, RT reported.
An ICC prosecutor said on Monday that there is "a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity" are being committed in Ukraine.
Accusations against Russia were filed with the ICC by Kiev.
Peskov said Moscow "categorically denied" the allegations raised against it by Ukraine, including fresh claims that Russian troops used banned cluster munitions and thermobaric weapons in Ukraine.
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The Russian official branded such claims as "hoaxes", the report said.
Russian troops "do not attack civilian facilities or residential areas", Peskov said, reiterating previous statements to that effect by the Russian defence ministry, RT reported.
The official said he could not comment on casualties sustained by Russian forces in Ukraine, but remarked that heads of certain Russian regions, who confirmed casualties taken by soldiers from their provinces, didn't need the central government's permission to do so.
