UN Says russian Crimes against Humanity in Ukraine Persist at ungodly Levels

The United Nations has uncovered additional heinous examples of premeditated and organized russian crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated during its latest war against Ukraine.

The 18-page report of Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine on the situation of human rights in Ukraine stemming from the russian aggression was released on October 19, 2023, and transmitted to the UN General Assembly.

The report paints a gruesome picture of the violent and bloody environment in which unarmed Ukrainian civilians have found themselves during the past 20 months of russian occupation of northern, eastern and southern Ukraine, including Crimea. It demonstrates that in Ukraine today the age-old concept of collateral damage is nonexistent because noncombatants are indiscriminately targeted by russian cutthroats as are combatants. The victims of inhumane acts are men and women, seniors and young boys and girls.

The UN investigated unlawful attacks with explosive weapons and their impact on civilians, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and kidnapping, transfers and deportations of children.

The report stated “As the armed conflict continues in its second year, it has further contributed to suffering and hardship for thousands of affected civilians. The Commission has found new evidence that russian authorities have committed violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, and corresponding crimes, in areas that came under their control in Ukraine. It documented additional indiscriminate attacks by Russian armed forces, which have led to deaths and injuries of civilians and the destruction and damage of civilian objects.

“The collected evidence further shows that russian authorities have committed the war crimes of willful killing, torture, rape and other sexual violence, and the deportation of children to the russian Federation. The Commission’s investigations confirmed its previous finding that russian authorities have used torture in a widespread and systematic way in various types of detention facilities which they maintained. Interviews with victims and witnesses illustrated a profound disregard towards human dignity by russian authorities in these circumstances. The Commission also documented cases in which russian soldiers burst into houses of villages they occupied, raped women and a girl, and committed additional war crimes against the victims and their family members.”

For example, the Commission concluded that russian uniformed cutthroats, in violation of international humanitarian law, conducted an indiscriminate attack on a residential building in Uman city and failed to take feasible precautions to ensure that the objective was not civilian. In other words, the invaders didn’t care that it was not a military target. The Commission also determined that so-called russian soldiers have carried out indiscriminate attacks on the ATB supermarket and the OKKO gas station, have likely also carried out the attack that hit the Railway Station, all in Kherson city, and failed to take precautions to verify that the objectives are not civilian.

Torture of civilians has not been uncommon, the Commission reported: “In its report to the Human Rights Council, the Commission found that torture was widely used by Russian authorities in seven provinces of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation and detailed how it was practiced in detention facilities.13 During its second mandate, the Commission has continued to document the use of torture against numerous persons in additional detention centers in Ukraine. It focused on areas of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, which were controlled by Russian authorities for long periods of time. The new evidence is consistent with and reinforces the Commission’s previous finding that the Russian authorities’ use of torture was widespread and systematic.”

Furthermore, the Commission established that “Victims of torture recounted how severe physical and mental pain and suffering was inflicted upon them during confinement and interrogation. Torture often led to long-term physical and psychological trauma for the victims and their loved ones. A victim who had been subjected to electric shocks stated: ‘Every time I answered that I didn’t know or didn’t remember something, they gave me electric shocks. […] I don’t know how long it lasted. It felt like an eternity.’ The victim reported not being able to walk properly for days and suffering from deep anxiety in the aftermath. The husband of a victim, confined in a neighboring cell while she was tortured, said: ‘I will never forget her screaming of pain.’”

Several victims cited by the Commission mentioned the existence of “torture rooms” or “interrogation rooms.” One witness described how he was brought to a room where he saw tools apparently used for torture; he mentioned plyers, knives, saws, cutters, and a metal device with wires for electrocution.

Rape figured prominently in the russians’ bag of crimes. The Commission investigated reports of rape committed during detention. “Several former detainees, men and women, reported threats of rape and other sexual violence, against themselves, as well as their families and loved ones. For instance, a young woman stated that during interrogation, a russian authority warned that if she did not reveal names of informants of Ukrainian armed forces, he would bring 20-30 men to rape her. A man was told that his fiancée would be gang raped if he did not provide the required information. One former male detainee received threats to be thrown among regular prisoners who would rape him. Another former detainee mentioned threats of having his genitals cut off.” In some cases, the same perpetrator raped the victim two or more times. In two cases, perpetrators gang-raped the victims. One of the victims and her husband were shot dead by Russian soldiers after they reported the rape.

Kidnapping was also related by a host of victims. “The Commission identified three main situations in which russian authorities have transferred Ukrainian unaccompanied children from one area they controlled in Ukraine to another or to the russian federation. Transfers affected children who lost parents or contact with them during hostilities; who were separated following the detention of a parent; and children in institutions. It found that in some of the cases it investigated, such transfers occurred in violation of international humanitarian law and qualified as unlawful transfers or deportations, which is a war crime.”

Among the Commission's recommendations, as naïve as they sound, are demands that russia immediately Cease aggression and all acts of violence committed against civilians in violation of applicable international human rights and international humanitarian law and end the use of torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and other forms of ill-treatment.

It recommends, among other things, that Ukraine: As a preliminary step towards a comprehensive reparations program, establish a victims’ registry as an ‘institutional portal’ for better coordination of government services to victims; Comprehensively address mental health and psychosocial needs resulting from the armed conflict by tackling access and allocation of resources to the relevant services as well as enhancing their institutional coordination, legal regulation, monitoring, and evaluation; and consider establishing a DNA registry which would aid in the identification and recovery of missing children.

Finally, the Commission recommends that other states and regional and international organizations: Strengthen national, regional and international accountability mechanisms, both judicial and non-judicial, including by improving their coordination, and supporting the effective participation of civil society and groups representing victims and survivors; and ensure that all perpetrators, particularly commanders and other superiors, and those ordering, soliciting or inducing the commission of international crimes, are held accountable in accordance with international human rights standards.

The historic magnitude of these war crimes, perpetrated with the blessing of the russian leadership, certainly requires all russian officials from the kremlin to the village be served with arrest warrants, tried, sentenced, and executed like the nazis were before them.