Ukrainian authorities seek evidence on alleged Russian war crimes

By Luis Ángel Reglero

Koropy, Ukraine, May 28 (EFE).- Ukraine’s Prosecutors Office has embarked on the mission of collecting evidence of war crimes in a bid for the International Criminal Court to open court proceedings against Russia.

The report on the Russian invasion, which began on 24 February, has collected 14,193 alleged “crimes of aggression and war crimes,” but documenting these amid a war is a long process.

Alexandr Iliyankov, head of investigating possible war crimes in the Kharkiv district, is overseeing the exhumation of the body of a young man who died from artillery fire when Russian troops entered Koropy, a village near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest and one of the worst-hit.

He tells journalists that 13 similar cases have been found in the district, including 7 bodies that showed signs of gunshots and artillery.

To prosecute Russia before the ICC, all details count.

From pieces of projectiles, gunshot holes in walls, the remains of Russian tanks to first-hand testimonies.

Ketler Nadiya, the mother of a young man who was killed by Russian forces gets emotional during her testimony to the experts collecting evidence of this alleged war crime in her home.

Nadiya’s son was hit with artillery that destroyed his body, she tells Efe. The only place they could bury him was the garden, she adds.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has recently denounced that there are three months worth of war crimes committed by Russia.

In March, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Iryna Venediktova, said she had gathered information on alleged war crimes in 6,000 different places in Ukraine, which are also being investigated by international organizations.

Over 600 suspects have already been identified, including politicians, Kremlin propaganda agents and Russian soldiers, the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office data show. EFE

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