Tag Archives: war crimes

The BBC reports: A court in Ukraine has jailed a Russian tank commander for life for killing a civilian at the first war crimes trial since the invasion. Captured soldier Sgt Vadim Shishimarin was convicted of killing Oleksandr Shelipov, 62, in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivka on 28 February. He admitted shooting Mr Shelipov but said he had been acting …

NBC News reports: A Russian soldier on trial for war crimes has pleaded guilty to the murder of a Ukrainian civilian during the early days of the invasion. It’s the first such trial since the war began, and takes place amid mounting allegations of atrocities committed by Russian forces. Sgt. Vadim Shyshimarin, 21, was accused of “violating the laws and …

The Associated Press reports: A Russian soldier went on trial in Ukraine on Friday for the killing of an unarmed civilian, marking the first time a member of the Russian military has been prosecuted for a war crime during the 11-week conflict. A 21-year-old captured member of a tank unit is accused of shooting a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the …

The Hill reports: In an interview with CNN, Donestk region military governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said that Russian troops were taking the bodies in order to destroy them in “territory not controlled by Ukraine” in an attempt to hide “evidence of genocide.” “They are using mobile crematoriums and mobile cremation machines and, also, taking people out, taking bodies of the dead …

Reuters reports: At least 39 people were killed and 87 wounded on Friday when two rockets hit a railway station in eastern Ukraine packed with evacuees, Ukrainian authorities said, as the region braced for a major Russian offensive. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said thousands of civilians had been at the station at the time the rockets struck, …

Yahoo News reports: Six Republican lawmakers in the House opposed a bill passed Wednesday seeking to encourage efforts to document and preserve evidence of Russian war crimes during the war in Ukraine. The bill seeks to “direct the President to submit to Congress a report on United States Government efforts to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence and information related to …

Der Spiegel reports: The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence service, has acquired gruesome new insights into the atrocities committed by Russian military forces in the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. DER SPIEGEL has learned that the BND intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which the murder of civilians in Bucha was discussed. Some of the intercepted …

CNBC reports: President Joe Biden said Monday that evidence needs to be gathered to put Russian leader Vladimir Putin on trial for war crimes related to his nation’s invasion of Ukraine. “He is a war criminal,” Biden said of Putin, on the heels of reports of mass killings of civilians by Russian troops in the town of Bucha, northwest of …

Reuters reports: Ukraine on Sunday accused Russian forces of carrying out a “massacre” in the town of Bucha, while Western nations reacted to images of dead bodies there with calls for new sanctions against Moscow. Russia’s defence ministry denied the Ukrainian allegations, saying footage and photographs showing bodies in Bucha were “yet another provocation” by the Ukrainian government. The defence …

Reuters reports: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said images of dead Ukrainian civilians found in the town of Bucha after Russian troops left were a “punch in the gut” and those responsible for any war crimes must be held accountable. Blinken’s comments in a CNN interview on Sunday came a day after Ukrainian forces moved into the town near …

CNN reports: The lifeless bodies of at least 20 civilian men line a single street in the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital. Some lie face down on the pavement while others are collapsed on their backs, mouths open in a tragic testament to the horrors of Russian occupation. The hands of one man are tied behind his back …

Via press release from the State Department: Many of the sites Russia’s forces have hit have been clearly identifiable as in-use by civilians. This includes the Mariupol maternity hospital, as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressly noted in a March 11 report. It also includes a strike that hit a Mariupol theater, clearly marked with …

CNN reports: A theater where hundreds of people had taken shelter in Mariupol was bombed on Wednesday, according to local authorities, as hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in the coastal Ukrainian city that has been encircled for weeks by Russian forces. Mariupol City Council, who shared an image of the destroyed building, said Russian forces had “purposefully and …

Reuters reports: A huge blaze at the site of Europe’s biggest nuclear power station was extinguished on Friday, and officials said the plant in southeastern Ukraine was operating normally after it was seized by Russian forces in fighting that caused global alarm. Officials said the fire at the Zaporizhzhia compound was in a training centre, not at the plant itself. …

The Insider reports: A Russian investor has put a $1 million bounty on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s head, asking for Russian military officers to arrest Putin as a war criminal. “I promise to pay $1,000,000 to the officer(s) who, complying with their constitutional duty, arrest(s) Putin as a war criminal under Russian and international laws,” said crypto investor and California-based …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The International Criminal Court opened an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine, an early step in a process that potentially could lead to Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin leaders being charged at The Hague. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said this week he would start an investigation “as rapidly as possible,” encompassing violations …

USA Today reports: The Army has rejected an appeal to return medals for valor to retired Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, a Special Forces soldier former President Donald Trump pardoned for alleged murder in Afghanistan. It was one of three high-profile cases in which Trump interceded on behalf of troops accused of war crimes. The decision regarding Golsteyn, reached last June, was …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump’s pardon of four American men convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007 violated U.S. obligations under international law, U.N. human rights experts said on Wednesday. The Geneva Conventions oblige states to hold war criminals accountable for their crimes, even when they act as private security contractors, the U.N. experts said. …

Yahoo News reports: Special Warfare Rear Adm. Collin Green, the US Navy admiral responsible for the service’s special-operations forces, will step down from his position in September. His retirement follows the controversial court-martial of Special Warfare Operator Chief Eddie Gallagher. Green moved to withdraw Gallagher’s Trident pin, which signifies his membership in the Navy SEAL community. However, President Donald Trump …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: The retired Navy SEAL whose war crimes trial made international news has launched a video attack on former SEAL teammates who accused him of murder, shooting civilians and who testified against him at his San Diego court-martial in June. In a three-minute video posted to his Facebook page and Instagram account Monday, retired Chief Special …