11:47 10.10.2023

National Police Chief: We're documenting occupiers' war crimes for recognition as genocide in international court

2 min read
National Police Chief: We're documenting occupiers' war crimes for recognition as genocide in international court

The National Police of Ukraine is investigating almost 100,000 war crimes committed by the Russian occupiers in Ukraine, and in the future, these documents will form the basis for the prosecution of Russian war criminals in international courts, Chief of the National Police Ivan Vyhovsky said.

In an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency, he said that currently more than 96,500 war crimes are being investigated by the National Police.

"This is about 90% of all war crimes that Ukrainian law enforcement officers are investigating," he said.

The National Police Chief said that, first of all, this is due to the fact that the police are the largest law enforcement agency, with the largest number of investigators.

"Materials on missile attacks, crimes committed by the Russian military in de-occupied territories – violence, torture, rape - in the overwhelming majority we document, investigate and transfer [the cases] to the SBU, because this is their jurisdiction," he said.

According to Vyhovsky, the police constantly interact with other law enforcement agencies in the investigation of war crimes, and there are also joint interdepartmental groups.

"Documenting of war crimes is our common task. In the future, these documents will form the basis for the prosecution of Russian war criminals in international courts," he said.

According to the head of the National Police, the most high-profile case that is being investigated is the case of the deportation of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories, the involvement of Russian war criminals and collaborators in this.

"This children case became the basis for an ICC [International Criminal Court] warrant for the Russian president," Vyhovsky said.

"The crimes committed by Russia, in particular the shelling of our critical infrastructure, are genocide of the Ukrainian nation. We are moving towards documenting all these facts in order to recognize the crimes of the Russian Federation as genocide in the international court," he said.

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