Russian War Crimes Diary: Ukraine edition 4

As Russia continues its onslaught of shelling against Ukraine, Ukrainians defending their homeland continue to exhibit remarkable bravery against Moscow’s bigger and more powerful forces. Ukrainians have not flinched, but instead they’ve gritted their teeth to gain some recent unexpected battlefield victories and even doubled down as Russian forces in response attacked civilians in the capital, Kyiv, which resulted in reports of entire families being killed among the many who lost their lives.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian have run several fundraisers to raise more than $12 million in donations; money that is being used to buy satellites, drones, and systems that can intercept Iranian ‘kamikaze’ drones. 

Russia continues to commit its war crimes, and tireless Ukrainian prosecutors are racing to document them. Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office has even created a special website where people can report war crimes committed by Russia. The statistics are as shocking as they are disappointing, especially the deaths of so many children during the Moscow-ordered attacks.

The Prosecutor’s Office continues to be assisted by a multitude of non-governmental organizations and journalists who are rigorously documenting and investigating the facts on the ground of Russia’s war crimes. 

The Prosecution of Russian War Crimes in Ukraine

„I have been doing this for more than seven years, and I still am shocked by the meaningless brutality,” said Roman Avramenko, the executive director of Truth Hounds, Ukrainian N.G.O. that documents war crimes, who spoke to The New Yorker about their findings so far. By all accounts, Russia’s war crimes are incomprehensibly brutal, and the findings thus far paint a grim picture of historic atrocities. 

Documenting war crimes is not an easy task, but journalists at The New Yorker talked to civilians, and investigative agencies, to learn more about the process. 

• Read the full article at this link

Was the massacre of people queuing up for bread a Russian war crime? 

The perpetrators of a massacre on March 16 in which more than a dozen Ukrainians were brutally murdered as they lined up for bread in Chernihiv, have been found. Resulted in at least 14 people killed and 27 wounded

Truth Hounds – a team of experienced human rights professionals that has been working on documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war contexts since 2014 – recreated the sequence of events that unfolded that day to assess whether it constituted a war crime. The sequencing of events determined the type of weapon used, tracked the direction of fire, and identified the likely perpetrators of this attack. 

• The results of their findings can be found at the link

Terror continues to reign in Mykolaiv 

Russian attacks on residential buildings in Mykolaiv take place almost daily – where there are no military facilities nearby – which is prohibited by military regulations. On October 1, a Russian missile hit a five-story building,  and completely destroyed the apartment on the last floor, killing a 29-year-old woman.

„The main problem of Mykolaiv, which was and still is, is that local residents go to sleep every night with only a 50% chance that they will wake up in the morning”, said the residents for bihus.info. 

• More details on this case, here

Zaporozhye resident: „it’s always better at home, even if it’s shelled.” 

Living in Zaporozhye is a „lottery” when half of the region is under Russian occupation, and Moscow’s missiles regularly strike residential homes, and take the lives of local residents. „ We have these fatal explosions all the time”, one resident told “Important Stories”. “Therefore, here already as a card lies. Either a rocket will fly into you, or you will be lucky.„

Colleagues from „Important Stories” talked to Zaporozhye residents about life under shelling and why they stay in the city. 

• You can read the full piece, here

Horrific crimes against civilians: the true scale of abuses in Ukraine

Russian occupiers tortured residents of Kyiv region. In small villages, the Russian beheader a man, raped women and tortured to death the head of the village council of Motyzhyn, her husband and their son. Ukrainian forensic experts have evidence that girls and women were raped before being killed.

“Rape is an underreported crime and stigmatised issue even in peaceful times. I am worried that what we learn about is just going to be the tip of the iceberg.” 

• Read the full Guardian article, here

Edited by Stephen McGrath
Photo: Telegram/ State Emergency Service of Ukraine