EU condemns Russia's repeated attacks on civilian objects in Ukraine

05.05.2023 12:54

Ukrinform

The European Union condemns the escalation in Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine with increasingly indiscriminate and bloody shelling of civilian areas.

“This week marked another escalation in Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine with increasingly indiscriminate and bloody shelling of civilian areas… These indiscriminate Russian attacks against civilian facilities constitute war crimes,” reads the statement by Peter Stano, Lead EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, released by the EEAS.

The spokesperson noted that Russian missile and drone strikes again targeted Odesa and Kyiv cities. This comes in addition to Russian indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure in Kherson region using heavy artillery, hitting notably a large supermarket, railway station and a petrol station. As a result of such barbaric Russian attacks, more than 20 people were killed and more than 50 people were injured, all of them civilians.

“This reckless killing of civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure must stop immediately. The EU has made it clear that there will be no impunity for the commanders, perpetrators and accomplices of these atrocities. The EU remains committed to hold all of them to account,” Stano stressed.

As reported, over the past weeks, the Russian invaders have increased the number of artillery and missile attacks on Ukrainian settlements and civilian infrastructure objects which are happening almost every day. The EU supports the efforts of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and international Joint Investigation Teams set up under the auspices of Eurojust and in cooperation with the International Criminal Court to investigate the war crimes that Russia continues to commit in the territory of Ukraine.

At the same time, with the assistance of Eurojust, the Office of the Prosecutor was established in The Hague, which will collect, analyze and accumulate evidence of the Russian crime of aggression against Ukraine to use these materials within the framework of the Special Tribunal which will be established to prosecute the political leadership of the Russian Federation.