On Tuesday, the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor was in Ukraine to probe Russia’s missile and drone assaults on power and other facilities that killed hundreds of people and left millions without electricity or water.
Ukraine calls them intimidation, while Moscow calls them lawful strikes to undermine the enemy’s forces.
According to the Geneva conventions and international court protocols, military parties must discern between “civilian objects and military goals” and not strike civilian objects.
“Overall we see clearly a pattern, I think, in terms of the frequency, scope, and breadth of assaults against Ukraine’s power infrastructures and we need to look at why that’s going place; are they valid targets or not?” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan.
Khan spoke to a small group of reporters in front of a heavily damaged apartment complex in Vyshhorod, a satellite town north of Kyiv.
A Russian missile killed eight civilians and wounded many more in late November.
The missile may have missed a neighboring power station.
“These are not isolated events, therefore we need to discover a trend, if any.”
The ICC in The Hague has the authority to try war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed in Ukraine by any side and is likely to target high-profile individuals. However, building such cases might take years.
Khan, who visited President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv, said there had been no ICC arrest warrants from the last year’s work in Ukraine. Still, he supported the court and its Ukrainian allies.
“What people want are not Pyrrhic wins,” he replied when asked if the process was too sluggish to fulfill many Ukrainians’ thirst for justice.
“Prosecutors are court personnel. We’re not here for a conjuring trick’s applause. When we relocate, people should know it’s not political.”
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, who accompanied Khan to the explosion site, hailed ICC-Ukrainian collaboration.
“We are genuinely united in our single purpose… to achieve justice for all Ukrainians, for Ukraine as a country,” Kostin stated near a big, littered bomb crater.
“Ninety-nine-plus% will be prosecuted and tried in Ukrainian courts.”
Kostin’s agency reported tens of thousands of Russian assaults on infrastructure and civilians without military reason.
Western and Ukrainian authorities have found torture, death, forced deportation, and sexual brutality in freed Russian-occupied territory.
Russia disputes such charges and claims some material is manufactured.
Moscow has also accused Ukraine’s troops of executing prisoners of war and bombarding civilians in the Russian-held eastern region.
Khan told Reuters that he has repeatedly contacted the Russian authorities about his efforts in Ukraine.
“Ukrainian evidence. No Russian proof “stated. “Give it. Yet, it takes two to tango.”
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