Ukraine has collected pretrial information on over 128,000 victims of war crimes, Veronika Plotnikova, the head of the Coordinating Center for Support of Victims and Witnesses of the Prosecutor General's Office, said on air on March 18.
War crimes include acts such as deliberate attacks on civilians, attacks on cultural sites or medical institutions, torture, and deportations.
Though the Coordinating Center is currently working with 170 victims of war crimes, "the real number of people who need help is much higher," as information on over 128,000 victims of war crimes has been recorded in the national register of pretrial investigations, Plotnikova said.
The Coordinating Center "provides a bridge between victims and those who provide help," Plotnikova said.
According to Plotnikova, staff at the Coordination Center are trained to use accessible language to tell victims and witnesses of war crimes which procedural actions are taking place, and to accompany them to court, while taking care not to retraumatize the victims.
"We are creating an ecosystem of support because no government body, no organization can provide for so many victims."
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said in November 2023 that Ukraine had collected evidence of 109,000 Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
"It's our commitment to decide to document, prosecute each and every incident, because each and every incident of war crimes has its victims," Kostin told Politico at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Elsa Court
