By Mitchell Morrell
34,000. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General Mr. Andriy Kostin has said that his office has collected enough evidence to document 34,000 potential war crimes all committed by Russian forces. The number is staggering and exposes the ugliness and violence of war, especially conventional war between two modern militaries.
However, this is not the first time that Russia has committed war crimes. Previously, in Syria, Russian pilots relentlessly bombed civilian targets, some even referring to their bombs as “candy”. Nevertheless these crimes in Ukraine are much more public than any of Russia's past crimes thanks to modern technology and the amount of social media being used on the front lines.
What remains to be seen is whether or not these crimes are being committed with a directive from the government or if they are being committed by rogue soldiers and units on the ground. Furthermore, when the war against Ukraine commences, what actions will be taken to find and punish those who committed these crimes?
For a bit of backstory, Russia has had multiple political and military conflicts with Ukraine. In 2014 Russia illegally invaded and annexed Crimea which was rightful territory of Ukraine. In late 2021 to February of 2022 Russia had begun to amass forces on the border of Ukraine claiming that they were having a large training exercise. However, on February 24, 2022 Russia began their invasion of Ukraine. Most countries by this point had suspected that an invasion was possible, but the movement of soldiers to the border is usually posturing or a show of force; not this time. Russia invaded claiming that Ukraine was committing an eight year long genocide and that they [Russia] were going to demilitarize and de-nazify Ukraine. Yet everyone knows that these are false accusations.
Since the beginning of the invasion, tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides have been killed and 14 million civilians have been displaced. Perhaps the most sad statistic is that approximately 6,700 civilians have been killed, many of those by direct action from Russian forces. (“Ukraine Conflict: What”))
Before moving more into the crimes that have been committed in Ukraine, let’s take a look at what Russia has done in Syria. Since 2015 Russia has been supporting President Bashar al-Assad through political and military influence. This military involvement has led to the death of thousands of civilians and countless indiscriminate airstrikes against non military targets. “Russia has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have indiscriminately attacked civilians'' (Cumming-Bruce). Even though Russia has stated that there is no evidence of their forces attacking civilian targets, here is a video of a Russian air strike on a village which is almost entirely civilians. A Russian pilot struck a civilian market and a refugee camp with a double tap strike, “...killing at least 43 civilians, and an airstrike on a camp for displaced civilians in August that killed at least 20 people'' (Cummings-Bruce). Russia as a permanent member of the security council in the United Nations knows that this is a war crime and that striking civilian targets is extremely illegal. While still in Syria, Russia also attacked multiple hospitals within a 24 hour period that were on the UNs “Do not strike list”. These military actions in Syria do not bode well for Russia when it comes time for them to defend their actions against civilians in Ukraine.
Russian forces immediately started committing war crimes within the first days of being in Ukraine. One tank commander Vadim Shishimarin, 21 years old, “...was jailed for life for shooting an unarmed civilian, 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov, in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivka, a few days after the invasion began” (“Ukraine Conflict: What”). In this case this war crime was not one directed by a higher up in the Russian military; this one was solely committed by one young soldier. But not all of the crimes that have been recorded and reported on in Ukraine have been such crimes. Many have been either committed by multiple soldiers, sometimes entire units and even some conducted by the government such as the use of thermobaric weapons. These weapons are not technically illegal, however, if used against civilians or civilian infrastructure they are, and in this case they have been used against civilian targets. Thermobaric bombs and munitions are generally more devastating than regular munitions due to the science behind the weapon. These bombs when they explode they suck in all oxygen from their surroundings and use the extra oxygen to fuel the explosion making it far larger. In many videos you can identify when they are used because before the explosion you can see a white ring around the area and then a sudden explosion. Russian soldiers have also raped, and executed civilians, war crime investigators have found, “…over 400 bodies of civilians were found in Bucha, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv” (“Ukraine Conflict: What”). Even more, “In September, 450 bodies - mostly of civilians - were found in mass graves in Izium, in [the] Kharkiv region” (“Ukraine Conflict: What”). These crimes are what I predict will be what the UN pursues when persecuting Russia for the war and everything it entailed. However with the war ongoing and no possible end in sight it is unlikely that the UN will try and charge Russia with any crimes until there is plenty of time for investigators to go in safely and assess the damage and collect evidence.
Still there are more notable crimes that have been committed throughout the last ten months. There is plenty of evidence of Russia bombing shelters, hospitals, and agreed upon evacuation routes. Without remorse, Russia has deliberately shelled a theater which they knew was being used to shelter children; it was almost leveled. Hospitals and maternity wards have also been bombed, producing the youngest victim of the entire war; 2-day old Serhii who was killed when the maternity ward he and his mother were in was shelled. The mother survived, but Serhii was the only one killed. Sadly Serhii is not the only child to have been killed in this conflict, “...more than 440 Ukrainian children killed and hundreds more wounded so far as a result of Russia’s invasion…” (Schmidt and Korolchuk). Serhii did not even live long enough to be given a birth certificate, an extremely sad example of Russia's lack of care for where their bombs and missiles land.
There is so much evidence of these crimes due to the use of social media on the frontlines and the ability to share messages and videos worldwide instantly. Many videos of cruise missiles, cluster incendiary munitions, targeting civilians, will undoubtedly be used to ensure that Russia will be held responsible for its actions and the lives it has ruined.
Works Cited
Cumming-bruce, Nick. “U.N. Panel Says Russia Bombed Syrian Civilian Targets, a War Crime.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/world/middleeast/united-nations-syria-idlib-russia.html.
Hill, Evan, et al. “Russia Bombed Four Syrian Hospitals. We Have Proof.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Oct. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/middleeast/100000005697485/russia-bombed-syrian-hospitals.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article.
“Russian 9M22S Incendiary 122mm BM-21 Grad Rocket Strikes the Besieged Azovstal Factory in Mariupol.” YouTube, YouTube, 14 May 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMvF7YNRc8A.
“Russian Cruise Missile Flying over Kharkiv in Ukraine.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Mar. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xdJOa755pkY.
tv9telugulive. “Russian Cruise Missile Hit Residential Building in Ukraine - TV9.” YouTube, YouTube, 26 Feb. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jIBsRgige9I.
“Ukraine Conflict: What War Crimes Is Russia Accused of?” BBC News, BBC, 14 Nov. 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60690688.
“Ukraine U.S. Ambassador Says Russia Used Vacuum Bomb.” YouTube, YouTube, 1 Mar. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weq3dpT5bYk.
*Photo credit: Ronaldo Schemidt/Getty Images
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