As of July 29, since the beginning of the large-scale invasion, the Russian army has committed 133,000 war crimes of all kinds in Ukraine, which are in the Rome Statute.
Points of attention
- The Russian army has committed more than 130,000 war crimes in Ukraine, including murder, sexual violence, and looting, according to the Prosecutor General's Office.
- The investigation of war crimes in Ukraine involves cooperation between the Prosecutor General's Office, Security Service, and National Police, with efforts to bring Russian war criminals to justice.
- 635 members of the Russian military have received notices of suspicion, with 121 sentences already handed down, but most were in absentia. Only 17 war criminals are in custody of Ukrainian law enforcement.
- The International Criminal Court is involved, and arrest warrants have been issued for notable figures including the Russian president and military commanders.
- Efforts are ongoing to gather evidence and hold accountable those responsible for war crimes, including the deliberate failure to provide medical aid, as seen in the Olenivka incident.
Russia committed 133,000 war crimes in Ukraine
This was announced by the head of the Department of Combating Crimes Committed in the Conditions of Armed Conflict of the Prosecutor General's Office, Yurii Belousov, at the event "Olenivka — the site of a war crime in Russia".
Belousov reminded that cases are massively fabricated against our soldiers and prisoners of war, they are brought to justice on completely fabricated grounds for absolutely ungodly terms.
Today, as of this morning, since the open invasion, the Russians have committed 133,000 war crimes across our country. The range of war crimes is fully contained in the Rome Statute, that is, Russia committed all types of crimes that are provided for there: it is the deportation of children, it is murder, it is sexual violence, cruel treatment, the killing of prisoners of war, looting of property and other crimes against the cultural heritage of Ukraine, etc.
Yuri Belousov
Head of the Department for Combating Crimes Committed in Conditions of Armed Conflict, Office of the Prosecutor General
Belousov said that the investigation of war crimes in Ukraine is currently carried out by the Prosecutor General's Office together with the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police. Accordingly, specialized units were created, which collect the evidence base and prosecute.
At this time, 635 people from among the military of the Russian Federation have received notices of suspicion, 457 cases are pending in our courts and 121 sentences have already been passed against them. However, unfortunately, most of these sentences were passed in absentia. According to Belousov, only 17 war criminals are currently physically in the hands of Ukrainian law enforcement officers.
But we believe that it is not in vain. The main thing is to get a verdict, prove to the whole world that this person committed a crime, and then search, search for his property, his fortune all over the world. You all know that until this time the war criminals who committed during the Second World War are still wanted all over the world and they are hiding from justice all their lives. We all want, we all believe, that the criminals, including Putin and all his accomplices, will end up in our hands. But our task — as a law enforcement system — at the moment when this happens, to have the evidence collected in a proper way. We also work, as colleagues mentioned, with the international criminal court.
As of today, 6 people have already received an arrest warrant: this is the president of the Russian Federation, the so-called commissioner for children's affairs, who herself commits crimes against our children, 4 commanders from the Russian Armed Forces, the Minister of Defense, the commander of the main staff, as well as 2 generals for launching missile strikes on the energy system of Ukraine.
We continue. For this year, the priority of the international criminal court is this and next year, in addition to the deportation of our children, they continue to investigate this, in addition to attacks on the energy structure of Ukraine, the next such large block is torture in places of detention. For the International Criminal Court, what is happening in places of deprivation of liberty in the occupied territory of Ukraine, in the territory of the Russian Federation, is evidence of the systemic policy of the Russians. For us too. We are trying to prove to the whole world that the Russians are torturing our civilians, our military. These are not isolated cases. This is a whole filtering system, when they select those people who have an active position, find them, put them in places of imprisonment and torture them.
The terrorist attack of the Russian Federation in Olenivka: what is known
The representative of the Prosecutor General's Office emphasized the heinousness and intentionality of the crime that took place in Olenivka.
No one has any doubts, neither in Ukraine nor outside of Ukraine, that this crime was committed by Russia. No one doubts that this crime was committed deliberately. The only question is the mechanism of its execution.
One of the main versions, that a detonated thermobaric projectile was committed, claims Belousov. Considering the consequences, all bodies of fighters that were returned were examined, international partners and appropriate equipment were brought in to examine each body to understand the causative mechanism.
There are different versions of what it could be, what could have caused it, the very type of cause of this crime. Yes, it's been 2 years. Unfortunately, until now, we cannot name the names of those who directly committed these crimes.
He emphasizes that in addition to this direct crime, the next crime was committed, which led to the death of 9 soldiers who were in the barracks: after the explosion, for several hours, those soldiers who were seriously injured did not receive medical assistance.
Not only did they not receive help, but they did not consciously receive this medical care. And the head of the institution, the deputy head of the institution, and other officials present on the spot took all measures to ensure that this help was not provided. As a result, we have 9 soldiers who died due to blood loss, due to not receiving proper medical care. The cynicism of the situation is that according to the testimony of the fighters themselves, who were there, there were ambulances on the spot who arrived, who had the opportunity to provide this help, but were not allowed to enter the territory. The worst situation is that one of the soldiers was already placed in the ambulance, but on the instructions of the management of the institution, he was taken out from there, and the person died due to blood loss.
According to him, last week the head of the institution and his deputy received suspicion for this crime in absentia. The SBU managed to fully establish the entire picture from the demonstrations of the soldiers who were released. He also said that, fortunately, there were military medics among the people who were in captivity, who could assess the situation and the state of medical assistance while on the spot. The head of the institution and the deputy were actually suspected of murder.
The Prosecutor General's Office qualified the crime as murder, deliberate failure to provide medical aid and obstruction of its provision, Belousov emphasized.
The management of this institution are just puppets, on the territory of the institution there were employees of the Federal Security Service, there were representatives of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, who are curators of all places of detention, both in the territories controlled by Ukraine and in the territory of Russia. These persons are established. We will collect the appropriate evidence base in order to get to those very people who are implementing this policy of actual genocide of Ukraine. That they bear responsibility. Justice knows how to wait.
He assured that the Prosecutor General's Office, the investigators of the Security Service, and the National Police are doing everything possible to identify each of the Russian criminals.
