Ukraine investigating 39,000 war crime cases
Russian war crimes in Ukraine (Photo:Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)
Ukrainian police are investigating more than 39,000 cases of potential war crimes, committed by Russian troops and Moscow-affiliated individuals in Ukraine, Deputy Internal Minister Yevhen Yenin told Ukrainian TV broadcasters on Oct. 24.
“Since the beginning of the (Russian) invasion, investigators of the National Police have launched 39,409 criminal probes into committed on the territory of Ukraine by Russian military personnel or their associates,” said Yenin.
“We have already started 1,772 proceedings regarding Ukrainian collaborationists. 324 people have already been charged, and 180 criminal proceedings have already been referred to the courts.”
According to Yenin, residents of liberated Ukrainian territories consistently report crimes, committed by invading Russian forces, to Ukrainian law enforcement officials.
“I saw queues of Ukrainian citizens in liberated territories who provided the police with information about committed crimes,” the official added.
“We see the sincere desire of our compatriots to help the police – to tell us how the invaders, local authorities, and law enforcement behaved (during the Russian occupation).”
The deputy minister added that the police are one the forefront of restoring the rule of law across the liberated Ukrainian towns.
“It is the police who take care of law and order,” the official noted.
“For example, the police provide measures of stabilization and the restoration of law and order in 43 settlements that were liberated in Donetsk Oblast. The liberated area is more than 1,500 square kilometers. We are working with the public. We started with doing rounds of each building, apartment, house. We are doing out painstaking work, collecting evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces and their collaborators.”
In Donetsk Oblast alone, law enforcement officers uncovered more than two hundred alleged collaborationists.
“Since Sept. 26, in Donetsk Oblast alone more than 212 people have been exposed, who are involved or may have been involved in collaborating with invading Russian forces,” Yenin said.
“This includes espionage, collaboration, sabotage and other activities aimed to hurt our state. Some of them are trying to escape along with occupational ‘authorities,’ while some remain.”
On Oct. 18, a UN commission found that Russian troops were responsible for the vast majority of human rights violations in the first weeks of the Russian invasion, including attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
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