· Ukraine’s Prosecutor General said authorities have registered more than 65,000 Russian war crimes including “Indiscriminate shelling of civilians, wilful killing, torture, conflict-related sexual violence, looting and forced displacement on a massive scale.
· He slammed Russian attempts to weaponize the winter season by targeting critical energy infrastructure across Ukrainian cities.
· The U.S. is considering a proposal that would name an interim prosecutor to start recording evidence of potential crimes.
· Russia has repeatedly denied that its troops have committed war crimes or deliberately targeted civilians.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said that the regional authorities have registered more than 65,000 Russian war crimes since Moscow’s conflict began nearly a year ago.
“We have all witnessed with horror the evidence of atrocities committed in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Izium, Kherson, Kharkiv regions and other liberated cities and towns,” Kostin said, adding that Ukrainian authorities have discovered mass burial sites in areas occupied by Russian troops.“These crimes are not incidental or accidental, they include indiscriminate shelling of civilians, wilful killing, torture, conflict-related sexual violence, looting and forced displacement on a massive scale,” he added.
Because of potential war crimes across a range of jurisdictions, the International Criminal Court cannot prosecute them, or heads of state such as Russian President Vladimir Putin. A special tribunal endorsed by the United Nations Security Council also seems unlikely, since Russia holds veto authority on all measures put forth by the 15-member group.
Beth van Schaack, President Joe Biden’s ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, said that the U.S. is considering a proposal that would name an interim prosecutor to start recording evidence of potential crimes that could be used later. Kostin recently said European countries like France and the United Kingdom have agreed to help create a special tribunal.
Kostin said his teams have also documented more than 14,000 Ukrainian children forced into adoption in Russia. “This is a direct policy aimed at demographic change by cutting out Ukrainian identity”. He further added that so far, more than 75,000 buildings, including homes, schools and hospitals, have been reduced to rubble.
Kostin also slammed Russian attempts to weaponize the winter season by targeting critical energy infrastructure across Ukrainian cities. He noted that approximately half of Ukraine’s energy sector has been destroyed by Russian shelling.
Russia has repeatedly denied that its troops have committed war crimes or deliberately targeted civilians.
