Tuesday, 15 August ‘23
This week’s overview of key events and links to essential reading.
Also see
Yahidne: “Let the World Know”
Hundreds of villagers were crammed into a cellar to serve as “human shields” for the Russian forces.
War Crimes in Crimea
Despite lack of active hostilities, Ukraine continues to seek judgements in international courts over alleged offences.
Tuesday, 15 August ‘23
This week’s overview of key events and links to essential reading.
Ukraine Identifies “Hundreds of Thousands” of Russian Soldiers
The prosecutor's office, together with the security services and police, have reportedly identified hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers who are in Ukraine,
Yuriy Belousov, the head of the war crimes department of the prosecutor general's office, said in an interview that tens of thousands had already been identified as "potential suspects". Belousov said Ukrainian courts had already sentenced 54 Russian soldiers for war crimes.
"Out of 54 sentences, 15 are real, not absenteeism. As a rule, these are low-ranking soldiers, privates or lower-ranking officers, because the generals do not fall into our hands during the battle, although they die here, fortunately for us," Belousov said.
Investigation of Shelling of Ukraine With Cluster Munitions
The office of the prosecutor general of Ukraine has initiated 239 criminal proceedings over the use of cluster munitions by Russian troops since the beginning of the full-scale invasion which have killed at least 201 civilians and injured 553.
The use of these weapons against the civilian population is a gross violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, because cluster munitions have an indiscriminate effect and significant destructive power.
The first cases of the use of such weapons were already recorded from the second day of hostilities. Most of the criminal proceedings were opened over the shelling of settlements in the Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.
Russian Major Suspected of Murdering Ukrainian POW
Investigators in the Chernihiv region reported a suspicion in absentia to a Russian officer over the violation of the laws and customs of war in combination with intentional killing and cruel treatment of the civilian population as a result of a prior conspiracy by a group of persons (Part 2, p 28, Part 1, Article 438, Part 2 Article 438 of the civilian code).
Russian Major Danilo Koblik is the battalion commander of the 74th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, stationed in the city of Yurga, Kemerovo Region.
According to the investigation, in March 2022 Koblik commanded a unit that took part in the capture of the village of Lukashivka in Chernihiv oblast. During the punitive raids, the Russian military captured a Ukrainian soldier and also kidnapped three local civilians. They were imprisoned in a garage where the Russians had set up a torture chamber.
Koblik personally "interrogated" the soldier, torturing him in an attempt to obtain intelligence about the Ukrainian defence forces in the region. When he was unsuccessful, Koblik shot the soldier before torturing the other prisoners.
