Ukraine has registered more than 260,000 crimes committed by Russian forces, with more than 99% of all cases investigated directly by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to the Netherlands and former Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said this during an event at the University of Vienna titled “Ukraine: War and War Crimes”.
According to Kostin, Ukraine’s position since the beginning of the full-scale invasion has been to ensure justice while the war is still ongoing.
“For Ukrainians, the fight for justice is an integral part of our fight for freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights,” the diplomat said.
Kostin noted that international institutions had previously often been perceived as insufficiently effective because of lengthy procedures. Ukraine’s approach, however, has been to ensure accountability without unnecessary delays.
“Our commitment was also to deliver justice in a timely manner, because I fully agree that before 2022, the ICC was perhaps perceived as not a very effective mechanism. I have always stressed to different audiences that we must ensure justice for victims and survivors while they are still alive,” the former Prosecutor General said.
Speaking about the concept of a “web of accountability”, Kostin described it as a key element of national investigations supported by a broad international coalition and advisory groups.
“First of all, we, Ukraine, assumed the primary responsibility for investigating and prosecuting this enormous number of crimes because we understood that all other mechanisms would only be able to cover a fraction of them. To this day, up to 99% of all such crimes are investigated and prosecuted by the Ukrainian authorities,” he said.
Kostin also provided figures on the work of Ukraine’s justice system and the scale of documented cases.
“If we have now registered more than 260,000 incidents of international crimes, you can imagine the volume and scale. As of today, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have identified 1,290 suspects... we have charged 958 of them... and convicted 315 Russian war criminals for various types of crimes,” Kostin said.
The diplomat also highlighted cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC), stressing that Ukraine’s openness to cooperation had helped achieve rapid results at the international level.
“We, Ukraine, are willing and able to cooperate, and we have demonstrated 150% cooperation with the ICC. That is why the ICC has also been able to demonstrate results in such a short, amazingly short period of time,” Kostin concluded.
