Members of Russian forces have committed more than 125,000 war crimes since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General.
Even as Ukraine continues to resist Russia’s brutal attacks, it works with U.S., European and NGO partners to document atrocities and establish grounds to hold Russia accountable.
“Russia’s military targets civilians — as part of a criminal plan to extinguish their identity,” said Wayne Jordash, who works with Mobile Justice Teams to document war crimes for the joint U.S.-U.K.-EU Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group. “These crimes follow a pattern and have to be investigated per that pattern,” Jordash told Deutsche Welle.
Jordash was among the first investigators to enter Kyiv’s liberated suburbs after Russian forces withdrew in March 2022.
“The level of destruction rose to a savagery,” he said. The abuses “targeted the most vulnerable. Women, children, those detained.”
His team and their partners have documented cases of Russian authorities deporting Ukrainian children for illegal adoptions in Russia. Observers have also logged instances of Russian troops torturing captives and civilians and carrying out indiscriminate sexual violence on children, women and men ranging in age from 4 to 82 years old.
Prosecutions have already begun. In March 2022, Ukraine convicted the first Russian soldier of violating the rules and customs of war for killing an unarmed civilian. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The modern history of holding individuals accountable for war crimes dates back to the post-World War II Nuremberg trials of major Axis war criminals.
Today, the International Criminal Court carries on that legacy. In March 2023, it issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for their alleged roles in unlawfully deporting and transferring Ukrainian children to Russia.
The International Criminal Court is only one institution upholding international standards against war crimes. A Joint Investigation Team convened by the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation continues to coordinate 22 national investigations of war crimes committed in Ukraine. These include investigations in 14 EU member states, in concert with the office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Andriy Kostin.
Investigators draw upon crowdsourced evidence from mobile phones and social media. Today, documenting atrocities in Ukraine is a collective act.
Much work remains, but Ukrainians are committed to bringing war criminals to justice. The U.S. contributes to this effort as an important part of its support for Ukraine.
Only by determining truth, holding those responsible accountable “and providing adequate reparations to victims and survivors, can we say justice has been done,” said Kostin.
