UN independent commission accuses Russia of committing ‘war crimes” in Ukraine 2 years after war started

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) - Two years after Russia began its war in Ukraine, a new report Friday from an independent commission set up by the UN accuses Russia of war crimes, which Moscow does not address nor offer any response.

“Two years after the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, civilian suffering is mounting as a result of Russia’s disregard for basic principles of humanitarian law and its human rights obligations,” the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said in its report.

The Commission said that for this report, it visited Ukraine 16 times, went to 34 settlements in nine provinces, and interviewed 860 people.

“During its second mandate, the Commission has gathered further evidence of violations and crimes committed by Russian authorities in areas they controlled,” said commission chair Erik Mose, a Norwegian judge.

“It has documented the war crimes of torture, willful killing, rape and other sexual violence, and unlawful confinement, as well as the corresponding human rights violations,” said the report.

Russian authorities had access to the report before it was published but did not respond.

- Scale of violations

“We are concerned at the scale, continuation, and gravity of violations and crimes that the Commission has investigated and the impact on victims and the affected communities,” said Mose.

Commissioner Vrinda Grover, an Indian lawyer, said: “The Commission has addressed a total of 23 written communications to the Russian Federation, seeking access as well as information. All our communications remain unanswered.”

She said the current report focuses on torture against Ukrainian prisoners of war and describes cases of horrific treatment of such prisoners in several detention facilities in Russia.

“Victims’ accounts disclose relentless, brutal treatment inflicting severe pain and suffering during prolonged detention, with blatant disregard for human dignity. This has led to long-lasting physical and mental trauma,” said the report.

The commission investigated incidents of rape and other sexual violence committed against women in circumstances which also amount to torture, the commissioner noted.

“It also details incidents of torture, with a sexualized dimension, and threats of rape against Ukrainian male prisoners of war,” Grover added.

Asked if rape as a weapon of war was increasing, she said: “What we are seeing is that there has been use of rape and sexual violence, particularly when there were house searches when women were detained, and to extract information and sometimes to humiliate and degrade.”

- Lack of precautions

Grover said the commission is concerned by the continued use of explosive weapons in populated areas and that Russian armed forces often shunned feasible precautions to verify that the affected objects are not civilian.

“The Commission has continued to investigate allegations concerning the transfer and deputation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation or Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine,” she said.

The report explains that the transfer of a group of 46 children from the Ukraine mainland to Crimea, which Russia occupies, “was not temporary, and hence, amounts to the war crime of unlawful transfer,” the report stressed.

The commission also investigated cases where Ukrainian authorities committed human rights violations against persons suspected of collaborating with Russian authorities.

The report assessed the grave impact on civilians of the fighting in and the siege of Mariupol at the outset of the full-scale invasion between Feb 24, 2022, and May 22 of that year.

“Satellite imagery provides an indication of widespread destruction of whole urban areas of the city. Residents described unbearable suffering endured during relentless shelling and aerial bombardments, which caused large-scale death, injury, and destruction,” the report said.

“After emerging from shelters, civilians reported seeing dead bodies strewn on the streets and in the rubble of their homes.”

Data obtained by the commission indicated that at least 58 medical infrastructure buildings and 11 power stations were damaged or destroyed in Mariupol.