Ukraine’s top prosecutor said Tuesday that Russian crimes in the occupied Ukrainian territories, including the Bucha massacres, show a pattern of genocidal behavior that must be tried domestically and, ultimately, by the International Criminal Court.
Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin made the comment during an interview with Reuters two years after the mass killing of civilians in the town of Bucha, shortly after Moscow began its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
More than 125,000 alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces were recorded by Kostin’s office, thousands of them in Bucha.
Russia denies that its troops committed war crimes in Ukraine and says some events, such as the alleged execution of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, were staged. Moscow rejects four ICC warrants against Russian suspects as meaningless.
Russia says Ukraine committed war crimes during the conflict, which Moscow dates back to 2014, including indiscriminate bombing of areas of eastern Ukraine.
Prosecutors in Ukraine have tried and convicted 25 Russians for war crimes in the Kiev region, Kostin said.
“We are convinced that these are not isolated incidents and, from our point of view, many of them bear the hallmarks of genocide,” he said.
Kostin said the investigation strengthened the case of international genocide, with arrest warrants at the International Criminal Court already alleging war crimes and more widespread crimes against humanity.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the alleged war crime of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia in 2023. In March this year it issued arrest warrants for alleged crimes against humanity against Russian commanders for attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Source: Terra
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