Foreign Ministry comments on ICC’s decision to investigate war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine

This is said in a commentary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine posted on its website on December 12.

“We regard the conclusion made by the prosecutor as a clear signal of the international community's support for the inevitability of justice for the crimes committed in Ukraine,” the Foreign Ministry noted.

The ministry expressed confidence that the involvement of the ICC tools will make it possible to bring to justice those who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas.

“Regardless of their political positions, all persons who have committed and are committing heinous crimes against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people must be put on trial,” the Foreign Ministry stressed.

On December 11, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced the conclusion of the preliminary examination in the situation in Ukraine related to the international armed conflict in Donbas and Crimea.

The Office concluded that there is a reasonable basis at this time to believe that a broad range of conduct constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the Court have been committed in the context of the situation in Ukraine.

The decision to open a full-fledged investigation into the facts of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the armed conflict should be made by the Judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court.

The preliminary examination of the situation in Ukraine was opened on 24 April 2014 on the basis of an initial ad hoc declaration lodged by the Government of Ukraine accepting the jurisdiction of the Court, which was subsequently extended by a second declaration by Ukraine, lodged in 2015, to encompass ongoing alleged crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine from 20 February 2014 onwards.

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