war crimes investigation

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has charged in absentia Vladimir Polupoltinnykh, a militant from the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) regiment, who carved the letter Z into the forehead of a captured Ukrainian soldier, the agency reported on Nov. 3.

As Russia’s full-scale invasion grinds into its fourth year, Ukraine’s push for justice is quietly gathering force—behind the front lines, in courtrooms and forensic labs, and within the country’s rapidly evolving legal system. Few understand that transformation better than Wayne Jordash KC, one of the world’s leading human rights lawyers and a key architect behind Ukraine’s war crimes prosecution strategy. In this interview, Jordash explains how Ukraine has overhauled its approach to atrocity investigations, why Russia’s sham trials of Ukrainian soldiers are themselves war crimes, and what still gives him hope in an age of rising authoritarianism.