EU funds center to prosecute Russian invasion and war crimes

The European Union pledged $9 million to open a new branch of the International Criminal Court on Monday. It will be dedicated to charging Russia for its war crimes in Ukraine, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said. Beyond the invasion, Russia is responsible for hundreds of crimes, including “targeted killing of civilians, sexual violence, torture, forcible displacement of civilians, including of children,” and looting, Kostin said. Although the U.S. does not recognize the ICC’s authority to prosecute, a U.S. special prosecutor will be assigned to the new office in The Hauge, Netherlands.

What will the office be doing? Lawyers from across Europe will support ongoing investigations and evidence collection in Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said evidence must be preserved and centralized now to maintain any realistic hope for accountability.

Dig deeper: Read Jill Nelson’s report in WORLD Magazine on the international effort to hold Russia accountable for war crimes in Ukraine.