Ukrainian official says there are at least 5,600 cases of alleged war crimes
- Ukraine has identified 500 suspected war criminals, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said.
- Venediktova told Sky News that there are at least 5,600 cases of alleged war crimes.
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said there are at least 5,600 cases of alleged war crimes, Sky News reported.
Venediktova also said Ukraine has identified 500 war crime suspects.
"It's a case about aggression. Aggression from the Russian Federation against Ukraine and these 500 suspects, it is military's top, politician's top, propaganda's top agents of Russia's federation who have done everything to start this war and they continue this war," she said.
She called the recent missile attack on a railway station in Kramatorsk which left 50 people dead a war crime and said Ukraine has evidence that it was a Russian attack.
"These people just wanted to save their lives, they wanted to be evacuated. It was women, it was children and they just wanted to save their lives," she said.
Russian troops have also been accused of committing summary executions in towns like Bucha and Mariupol.
Venediktova called Russian President Vladimir Putin "the main war criminal of the 21st century." She however added that international law gives immunity to three positions: president, prime minister, and minister of foreign affairs, and since Putin is still in his position, he is not a suspect in Ukraine's criminal war crimes case.
She said once Putin loses power or if the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court decides to prosecute those Russian leaders, they will "be responsible for all their crimes."
International leaders including US President Joe Biden have also called Putin a "war criminal."
As of Friday, the United Nations reported that since the invasion of Ukraine began 1,766 people have been killed, including 139 children and 2,383 people have been injured.
Last month, The ICC said it launched an investigation into potential war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.