Ukraine investigating russian army's crimes in three key areas – top prosecutor
Photo: Word and Deed
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin says his Office and international partners are investigating crimes committed by russian troops in three main areas: the crime of aggression, the crime of genocide, and war crimes, Ukrinform reports.
"Currently, the Prosecutor General's Office conducts investigations in three main areas: the crime of aggression, the crime of genocide, and war crimes," Kostin said during an online conference under the auspices of the influential Brussels analytical Center for European Politics. "Unquestionably, the conduct of aggressive war results in war crimes and large-scale atrocities. It is defined as the major international crime that encompasses all other crimes. This is a quote from the Nuremberg Tribunal documents."
The actions of putin, the president of russia and the supreme commander of the russian armed forces, were stressed by prosecutor general Kostin as the primary proof of the crime of aggression. On February 24, 2022, putin was the one who gave the order for a military invasion of Ukraine, and, since then, after that, he has kept up his illegal behavior.
"This is a crime of leadership, which entails other international crimes. So the main suspects in this crime are the political and military leaders of the Kremlin regime, who planned, prepared, organized, and carried out this act of aggression," Kostin continued.
The russian invaders began to use hybrid means of war against peaceful cities from the first day of the invasion, the prosecutor general says. The main target was civilians. They were the victims of indiscriminate shelling of residential areas. The russian occupiers artificially created a terrible humanitarian situation in the months-long siege of cities and towns.
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This terror tactic against Ukraine's civilian population developed in October into massive missile attacks on the country's entire territory. russian troops began deliberately destroying critical civilian infrastructure to leave people without electricity and water before the winter cold.
"A week ago, we witnessed russia directing another missile attack against peaceful cities of Ukraine. There is no doubt that these deliberate attacks are part of terrorist tactics to intimidate the population and paralyze Ukraine," Kostin said.
Another cruel dimension of this war is the russian treatment of the civilian population in the occupied territories, the top prosecutor added. These are murders, torture, and sexual violence. Law enforcement discovered mass burials in many liberated cities, confirming these crimes' massive nature.
The third group of crimes concerns russia denying the very national identity of Ukrainians. The russian invaders are trying to change the demographic situation in the temporarily occupied territories, forcefully deporting and relocating the population, including abducting children (about 16,000 such cases have been established to date), Kostin adds.
Currently, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Office recorded more than 66,000 cases of war crimes: from indiscriminate shelling of the civilian population to the use of torture and sexual violence.
"Unfortunately, the scale of these crimes is truly devastating. The civilian deaths they caused already exceed 9,000, including over 460 children. The number of civilians injured exceeds 12,000, of which over 900 are children," Kostin stressed.
"Our main task is to ensure responsibility for the commission of these international crimes, and not only at the level of specific perpetrators, the russian military, but also those who gave them orders and organized this criminal invasion and act of aggression," the prosecutor general concluded.
Background
On January 19, the European Parliament proposed a special tribunal for putin and belusian dictator lukashenko.
On January 26, a meeting of the Core Group on establishing the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine was held in Prague with 20 country representatives as participants.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution stating that the military-political leadership of russia and belarus, involved in the war against Ukraine, should be brought to justice in a special international tribunal.
Subsequently, Germany declared the need for a trial against the russian federation at the international level after collecting evidence of war crimes in Ukraine.
