A mission has arrived in Ukraine - the United Nations Independent International Commission - to investigate crimes related to Russian aggression. Eric Moses is the chairman of the commission, which also includes Yasminka Dzumhur and Pablo de Greiff.

UN Independent International Commission was assured that the Verkhovna Rada would contribute to the successful work of the mission! They discussed the work of the Commission in Ukraine, which was established to record violations of human rights, international humanitarian law, and other crimes related to Russian aggression. The main task is to identify the suspects, gather evidence, and prepare materials so no one escapes punishment.

Olena Kondratyuk assured our colleagues of the importance of the work of the Commission and the support of its activities by the Parliament of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine attaches great importance to the work of the UN Independent International Commission. Parliament is ready to promote its activities fully.

In addition to the crime of aggression, Russia is committing numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, which testify to the genocide of the Ukrainian people.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are investigating more than 16,000 war crimes and crimes committed since February 24, 2022, including on more than 5,000 killings and 6,000 civilian injuries. Unfortunately, these numbers are growing every day. At the same time, a separate investigation is being conducted into the fact of the crime of genocide.

We are also grateful to the International Criminal Court, which is conducting its own full-fledged investigation at the request of 42 countries. Joint investigative and advisory groups are working to assist in investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

We appreciate the position of all international partners who have joined and opened their own proceedings on numerous crimes of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. The just punishment of all those who gave orders and committed atrocities against our citizens must be inevitable. This is a common task of the whole civilized world. We expect the UN Commission to investigate all these crimes and give them an unequivocal assessment.

In turn, the Commission representatives noted that they were instructed to conduct a separate investigation into violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions in late February and March 2022, following international standards.

Also during the meeting, the Chairman of the Commission informed about the Commissioners' work for the Collection of Facts on Crimes to present information to the UN Human Rights Council and report to the UN General Assembly at its 77th session.

In addition, I drew the attention of the UN Commission that its activities should cover current events and their root causes. She called on the mission to study the facts and crimes of the Russian Federation that had occurred in previous years. In particular, in the temporarily occupied Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions, where they have taken place over the past eight years.

Olena Kondratyuk