Ukraine says it has documented more than 120,000 Russian war crimes

Ukrainian prosecutors have recorded more than 120,000 instances of war crimes committed by Russian troops since the February 2022 invasion, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin says.

Speaking to journalists at the Ukraine 2024 forum in Kiev, Kostin said investigations had already led to convictions. "There is no crime that the Russians have not committed during this war," he said. "We already have 80 judgements handed down by Ukrainian courts during the war."

Ukraine is aiming for tribunals modelled on the Nuremberg trials held after World War II at which Nazi war criminals were tried. Kostin cited the example of crimes committed in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces in May 2022.

Russian forces have regularly been accused of executing unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak told the forum that international organizations were not fulfilling their function, and said the Red Cross had not visited a single Ukrainian prisoner being held in Russia.

The Red Cross was also not assisting in returning Ukrainian children being held illegally in Russia and the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, he said. According to Kiev, more than 20,000 Ukrainian children are being held.