deadly attack on Ukraine city of Mariupol violated international law, could be war crime

ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MOSB114 - Relatives of Alexander Demyanenko, victim of Saturday shelling pour soil at his grave during funerals in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Monday Jan. 26, 2015. At least 5,100 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since fighting began in April 2014, but violence this week was the most intense since a cease-fire deal was signed in September. Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Black Sea still controlled by Ukrainian forces, has been a symbolic bulwark against the separatist advance that if captured by the rebels would give them a land corridor to Russia-controlled Crimea. The city had been relatively quiet for months before Saturday's attack.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) (The Associated Press)

A woman carries plastic to cover broken windows after Saturday's shelling at Vostochniy district of Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. At least 5,100 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since fighting began in April 2014, but violence this week was the most intense since a cease-fire deal was signed in September. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) (The Associated Press)

Local residents receive humanitarian aid after Saturday's shelling at Vostochniy district of Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. At least 5,100 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since fighting began in April, but violence this week was the most intense since a cease-fire deal was signed in September. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) (The Associated Press)

The U.N. political chief says deadly rocket attacks on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol this weekend that "knowingly targeted civilians" violated international humanitarian law and could amount to war crimes.

Jeffrey Feltman told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Monday that monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who examined the craters reported that the rockets originated from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels.

He said Saturday's attack on Mariupol — a strategic city that could provide a land corridor into Ukraine's Crimean peninsula which Russia annexed last March — destroyed buildings and hit a market killing dozens of people, including women and children, and injuring over 100. Other reports put the death toll at 30.

Feltman said the perpetrators must be brought to justice.