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Russia has committed 137,000 war crimes in Ukraine, Zelensky says

by Elsa Court and The Kyiv Independent news desk September 11, 2024 5:51 PM 2 min read

Workers exhume a body at a mass burial site containing around 440 graves in liberated Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, on Sept. 16, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin/The Kyiv Independent)

This audio is created with AI assistance

Russia has committed 137,000 war crimes in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the United for Justice conference in Kyiv on Sept. 11.

War crimes include acts such as deliberate attacks on civilians, attacks on cultural sites or medical institutions, torture, and deportations.

"As of today, there are at least 137,000 reasons for us to continue this work, and for us to see it through," Zelensky said, referring to "the number of war crimes committed by Russia."

"Crimes against peace and humanity, against our state, against our people, against Ukraine and Ukrainians. And this means that there should be no fewer sentences."

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced several arrest warrants for crimes committed by Russia's leadership against Ukraine.

The ICC announced in June that it has issued arrest warrants for Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia's Security Council, and Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian army, for intentionally harming civilians, among other charges relating to Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

The charges against Shoigu and Gerasimov followed similar arrest warrants issued in March against two lower-ranking Russian commanders relating to the same strikes.

The court also issued arrest warrants in March 2023 for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for the forcible transfer of children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

The Prosecutor General's Office said in March that Ukraine has collected pretrial information on over 128,000 victims of war crimes.

Authors: Elsa Court, The Kyiv Independent news desk

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