Ukrainian prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova announced May 14 that her office is preparing war crimes cases [9] against 41 suspects, on charges including "the bombing of civilian infrastructure, the killing of civilians, rape and looting." Venediktova has said that her office is investigating more than 10,700 potential war crimes involving more than 600 suspects.
The first war crime trial since the start of the invasion opened [10] in Kyiv a day earlier. The suspect is a 21-year-old Russian soldier accused of killing a Ukrainian civilian in the northeastern village of Chupakhivka, Sumy oblast, on Feb. 28. Sgt. Vadim Shysimarin is accused of shooting a 62-year old man who was riding his bicycle. Shysimarin has been charged under both international war crimes statutes [17] and with premeditated murder under Ukraine's penal code. [11] The Ministry of Defense has also identified [12] 10 Russian soldiers who may be charged with war crimes for mass killings in the city of Bucha [13].
International war crime trials are also expected. According to a press release [18] April 22 from the UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU [19]) has "received more than 300 allegations of killings of civilians in towns in the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy" in late February and early March. Bachelet emphasized: "Wilful killing of protected persons, including summary executions, are gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law, and amount to war crimes." (DW [20], Jurist [21])
Both the ICC and UN Human Rights Council have opened investigations [13] into possible war crimes in Ukraine.
