Members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Committee “Parliamentary Support Group for Ukraine” and the Permanent Delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly took part in a joint meeting in Kyiv.
In particular, the participants of the meeting heard reports from representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office, the National Police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Justice on the investigation of war crimes committed by the russian federation in Ukraine and the establishment of the Special International Tribunal for the crime of aggression, the impact of armed aggression on the socio-economic and humanitarian situation in Ukraine, and sanctions policy.
The Ukrainian Parliament was represented by MPs – the Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the OSCE PA Mykyta Poturaiev, the Deputy Head of the delegation Hryhorii Nemyria, the Deputy members of the delegation Yevheniia Kravchuk, Nataliia Pipa, Hanna Lichman, Iryna Herashchenko.
“As part of the visit, we held the second in-person meeting of the Parliamentary Support Group for Ukraine in the Assembly (Committee ad hoc), which was established last year at the Vancouver session. Particular attention was paid to the issue of the aggressor's responsibility, in particular, the work on establishing a Special Tribunal to investigate the crime of aggression, as well as ways to use the frozen assets of the russian federation for the restoration of Ukraine. We also discussed the socio-economic and humanitarian situation in our country.
Face-to-face meetings are always more productive and effective. I thank my colleagues for the important reports for our foreign partners! I am convinced that today the Committee has received a new impetus for further work,” said Yevheniia Kravchuk, the MP, Deputy Member of the Permanent Delegation to the OSCE PA.
In particular, the speakers reminded the audience that this month, 24 February, marks two years since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Ukraine has withstood and is giving a worthy rebuff to the enemy. Today, fierce fighting is taking place in the East and South of Ukraine, but our security and defence forces are defending every metre of Ukrainian land,” the officials said.The speeches also stressed that Ukraine is perhaps the only country in the world with experience in investigating war crimes during a full-scale war. Our country is the first and so far the only one that, in parallel with the active phase of armed aggression, is documenting and investigating this category of crimes. In particular, investigators of the National Police of Ukraine have registered 112,400 criminal offences over the past two years on the basis of war crimes and crimes committed in the context of armed conflict. The totality of all the evidence collected in these crimes will later form the basis of a specific charge against a particular russian serviceman.
Also, since the beginning of russia's armed aggression, investigators have documented 5,300 deaths, of which 9,700 were civilians: women, children, men, and foreigners from many countries. In the liberated territories, 57 places of detention were discovered: torture chambers and filtration camps. According to official figures, 522 children were killed and 4,100 injured during the full-scale invasion by russia.
“These heinous crimes must not go unpunished, and all those involved must be brought to justice. The collected evidence of war crimes will form a powerful basis for the prosecution of war criminals,” the meeting noted.
The speakers also informed the participants of the event about the created Information System of War Crimes, which currently contains information on 550,000 people involved in the armed aggression against Ukraine.
Opening the second part of the meeting, the Head of the Permanent Delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Mykyta Poturaiev, noted that it was dedicated to considering the impact of russia's war of aggression against Ukraine on the socio-economic and humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
