UN investigation concludes war crimes have been committed in Ukraine

A UN investigation concludes that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine, the International Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded after visiting the country in June

“We were brought to our attention by a large number of executions and other violations by Russian forces, and the Commission received consistent accounts of torture and ill-treatment,” they said in presenting their report to the Human Rights Council.

The three members of the Commission, created in March of this year at the request of the member States of the Human Rights body, visited the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy, where the most serious complaints against Russian forces took place, or backed by them, at the beginning of the war.

exhaustive investigation

Commission President Erik Møse said investigators visited 27 towns and settlements and interviewed more than 150 victims and witnesses. They also inspected “destroyed places, graves, detention and torture centers,” as well as weapons remains.

“On the basis of the evidence gathered so far during the existence of the Commission, after having carried out the investigations in these four areas that we have just mentionedwe note that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine“, he told reporters in Geneva.

This conclusion coincides with those published earlier this year by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).

It documented unlawful killings – including summary executions of civilians – in more than 30 settlements in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions, by the Russian armed forces while they controlled these areas in late February and March.

brutal executions

Other important findings of the report include the surprising “large number of executions” in 16 cities and settlements, where the “common elements” of the crimes included “Visible signs of executions on the bodies, such as hands tied behind the back, gunshot wounds to the head and throats slashed.”

The report, delivered to the Human Rights Council early Friday, also documented how Russian Federation forces used explosive weapons, “without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in populated areas.”

Sexual violence, including against children

In addition, it was found that the horrible accusations of sexual violence against Ukrainian communities – including children – were factual.

“The Commission investigated cases of sexual gender-based violence. It documented cases in which some soldiers of the Russian Federation committed this type of crime,” said Commissioner Jasminka Džumhur.

Ukrainian forces were also responsible for human rights violations, said Commissioner Pablo de Greiff: “We have found two cases of ill-treatment of soldiers of the Russian Federation by Ukrainian soldiers, and we mentioned it in our statement. Obviously, we have found a significantly higher number of cases amounting to war crimes by the Russian Federation.”