UK’s £4.5m pledge to find Putin’s cruel war criminals

​SURVIVORS of Russian war crimes in Ukraine were one step closer in their quest for justice today with the announcement of a new financial boost from Britain.

The £4.5million pledge will help prosecutors hunt down the soldiers and commanders responsible for “unspeakable atrocities” since Vladimir Putin launched his illegal invasion almost three years ago.

They range from deliberately targeting civilian homes, hospitals and infrastructure to kidnapping children, sexual violence, the shooting of unarmed prisoners and the use of chemical weapons.

The Government has already committed to providing £3billion of military support to Ukraine every year “for as long as it takes”.

Today’s additional financial commitment will, sources say, help support Kyiv’s efforts to document, investigate and prosecute war crimes by funding the work of hundreds of police officers, investigators, lawyers and judges to work more effectively on complex investigations and forensic responses.

The new money is in addition to the £6million already given to the Ukraine Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group.

Set up by the UK, the EU and the US, this group employs 150 experts and has launched more than 350,000 individual war crime investigations.

The case for Russian war crimes was opened by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court just a month after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

By that September, the UN-backed Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine confirmed Russian forces had committed war crimes.

Its report cited the illegal use of chemical weapons, explosive weapons in densely populated areas, indiscriminate attacks, executions and torture as well as sexual and gender-based violence.

Russian forces used chemical weapons 465 times between February 24, 2022 and December last year, according to Kyiv, as it became clearer there would be no quick victory for Moscow.

According to Ukrainian officials, these included a variety of CS gas and riot control grenades aimed to subdue victims, and chloroacetophenone or CN grenades, which contain a toxic agent.

Some were dropped by drone on Ukrainian positions.

In May, the US imposed fresh sanctions after Russian forces used chloropicrin to make “battlefield gains” over Ukraine.

This oily substance was widely used during the First World War and causes irritation to the lungs, eyes and skin, leading to vomiting and nausea.

Its use in Ukraine directly contravened the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Russia signed.

Britain followed suit by imposing sanctions on Russian Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence troops and their commander, General Igor Kirillov.

By then, the Prosecutor’s Office in Kyiv had identified more than 600 suspects, initiating immediate proceedings against 80.

Other war crimes include the deliberate killing of thousands of civilians with high explosive ordinance.

And the rights of Ukrainian children have also been violated.

According to the UN, Russia has kidnapped more than 20,000 children, including orphans and youngsters separated from their families, as part of a bid to “destroy Ukrainian ethnicity”.

The Russian State Duma has initiated legislation to formalise the “adoption” of these children.

Most were transported to Russia’s eastern provinces, though some found themselves in Moscow, where they have been assigned to new guardians.

Others have been taken to the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The ICC issued arrest warrants against Putin and Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for child abduction in March last year.

Britain’s financial boost for war crimes investigation is just the latest in a raft of aid and weapons packages, with billions of pounds worth of military, economic, and humanitarian support pledged and delivered this year alone.

The UK has now supplied Kyiv with more than 400 different types of military capabilities, including the recent delivery of the first 100 out of 650 lightweight multi-role missiles. During a meeting in Kyiv

On December 19, Defence Secretary John Healey and Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov, along with his deputy Serhiy Boyev, established five key priority areas where the UK could make a real difference.

They are to increase and strengthen Ukraine’s military capabilities; to continue to train members of Ukraine’s armed forces; to help establish a pan-European defence sector for Ukraine, utilising hundreds of defence companies; to work with allies to step up international support and to ensure the MoD and Foreign Office work closely together to increase diplomatic pressure and sanctions.

Efforts continue at home, too.

Last month, the UK reached the milestone of training 50,000 Ukrainian soldiers on British soil under Operation Interflex.

And more than 300,000 of the country’s citizens have been given sanctuary here since Putin launched what he calls a “special military operation”.

On February 4, the Home Office will open applications for eligible Ukrainian visa scheme holders to remain in the UK for an additional 18 months under the new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme.

Those eligible can apply online to access work, benefits, healthcare and education.

Last night, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “The atrocities we have witnessed in Ukraine are unspeakable – there can be no lasting peace without accountability, and UK support will help Ukraine as it pursues justice for the victims and survivors of these crimes.”

And Mr Healey said: “I’m proud of UK leadership on Ukraine.

“From delivering cutting-edge equipment to training tens of thousands of troops, we have shown the UK stands with the Ukrainian people in the face of Putin’s brutal, illegal invasion – because the defence of the UK starts in Ukraine.”

(See factbox and Comment below…)

COMMENT: “It’s a welcome step to Justice”

By Alexander Gilder, Associate Professor of International Law and Security at the University of Reading

ON Christmas Day, Russia launched a major missile strike on Ukraine. The target? Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The missile strikes left half a million people in the Kharkiv region without heating and resulted in blackouts elsewhere in the country. But were the strikes war crimes?

The short answer is, most likely not. Under international humanitarian law, it is uncontroversial that energy infrastructure can be targeted where it is used by both civilians and the military alike, even where the military use is small.

This is not to say that horrendous crimes have not been and continue to be committed in this war as we approach its fourth year.

There is evidence of the abduction of children, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including civilian infrastructure like hospitals and nurseries, the destruction of cultural property, and much more.

However, it is commonplace for us to look at the horrific consequences of an attack and feel the act that caused them must have been a violation of international law. The truth is that massive numbers of civilians could be killed in a war with no crimes having been committed.

For example, civilians can lawfully be killed as collateral damage where an attack was carried out against a military objective.

The difficulty comes when the commander must determine what level of harm is acceptable when weighed against the military advantage to be gained.

The more clear-cut crimes are ones that result from the use of prohibited weapons. Such as Russia‘s use of non-lethal chemical weapons to flush Ukrainian soldiers out of trenches in eastern Ukraine.

This tactic is a violation of international law.

Similarly, Russia has used cluster munitions in populated areas which also violates international law because these weapons cannot be targeted purely at a military objective in towns and cities.

Establishing that crimes have taken place is not always simple. Therefore, today’s announcement that the UK will provide a further £4.5 million to Ukraine to seek justice for war crimes is a welcome step.

Ukrainian courts are best placed to prosecute the crimes committed on their territory due to their proximity to the evidence, witnesses and importantly the victims who need to see justice done.

This will be key when the time comes for communities to rebuild.

The UK’s contribution will play an important role in building the capacity of Ukrainian authorities as they work their way through thousands of cases of alleged war crimes.