Suspects in war crimes among Russian POWs - top prosecutor

Among the Russian forces captured in Ukraine are those suspected of committing war crimes in its territory.

That’s according to Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, who spoke at a briefing on March 28, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We have such suspects, and in order for me to remain a successful prosecutor, I will remain silent on this,” she told journalists, answering a question of whether there are suspects in war crimes among the POWs and if the PGO will recommend that they not be swapped.

“This really is confidential information, and I hope that you will have work to do in Ukrainian courtrooms and see how we will work with this article on war crimes – it’s Art. 438. So we will move on and see what happens. We are working on this line, there are such suspects,” Venediktova said.

As reported earlier, the Office of the Prosecutor General said the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies had already initiated 3,085 criminal proceedings into crimes of aggression and war crimes committed by the Russian forces.

On February 24, on the instructions of Russian President Putin, Russian troops began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces have been shelling and bombing key infrastructure and residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages, using artillery, rockets, and missiles.