Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territories, human rights have become one of the most crucial topics. Based on the data collected by the Ukrainian law enforcement representatives, Russia has committed over 140 thousand war crimes in Ukraine (as of 2024). These statistics are staggering, especially seeing that some of the crimes that Russia commits on the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) remain hidden.
Unfortunately, the world’s and international organizations’ reactions to Russia’s systematic human rights violations point to numerous shortcomings within the modern international law system. International mechanisms to hold Russian criminals accountable proved to be ineffective. The war crimes Russia commits against Ukrainians remain unpunished.
To draw attention to Russia’s violation of international law, our team prepared a selection of examples of the war crimes Russia has committed since the beginning of the full-scale war.
- Olenivka prison massacre
On the night of July 28-29, 2022 Russia caused an explosion in the premises of the former Volnovakha corrective colony near Olenivka, where over 200 prisoners of war (POWs) of the Special Forces Brigade Azov were relocated a day before. As a result of this terrorist act, at least 50 Ukrainian POWs were killed and over 200 were heavily wounded. The Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine believes that Russia deliberately executed prisoners of war because it had no intention of participating in the exchange and sought to hide the fact that the Russian authorities were using inappropriate interrogation techniques and holding prisoners of war in terrible conditions.
Russia systematically tortures prisoners of war and holds them in conditions that violate international humanitarian laws.
- Kidnapping children
As of the end of 2024, based on the National Information Bureau data, Russia kidnapped almost 20 thousand children. This figure only includes cases where relatives or witnesses reported the children being taken to the territory of the Russian Federation. The real number of minors, who were illegally deported to the RF is much higher. The Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova claims that over 700 thousand children were taken to Russia. According to Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, close to 1,5 million children, who remain in temporarily occupied territories are currently at risk of being deported.
Ukrainian children and teenagers deported to the RF territories get “re-educated” through pro-Russian militarized propaganda by Russian authorities.
International Criminal Court issued warrants of arrest for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, with the illegal deportation of children being listed among their crimes.
- Destruction of cities
Some cities in Ukraine were destroyed by Russian attacks. Some human settlements suffered significant damage and are slowly turning unfit for life due to constant shellings of civilian homes and infrastructure objects such as schools, medical facilities, energy infrastructure, etc. Afterward, Russia would use the destruction it caused to forcefully deport Ukrainians to the RF territories as a part of a larger scheme to repress and “Russify” Ukrainian people.
Over 200 thousand buildings were destroyed during the full-scale invasion, which included should, hospitals, residential buildings, and other civilian infrastructure objects. Rebuilding efforts might take decades and could cost around $486 billion, according to World Bank and UN estimates.
- Destruction of energy infrastructure
Russia attacks Ukrainian energy infrastructure systematically to cause global blackouts and destroy Ukraine’s energy system. As of the end of 2024, almost 45% of hydroelectric power plants, 90% of thermal energy generation, and a significant number of energy infrastructure facilities were damaged or destroyed by Russian attacks.
Russian bombings endanger heating and water supply as well as the uninterrupted work of critical facilities (for example, hospitals), enterprises, and educational institutions.
- Terrorizing civilian population
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia turned terrorizing civilians into a part of its “strategy”. Russians methodically commit crimes against humanity on temporarily occupied territories. This includes kidnapping, repression, torture, filtration, sexual violence, and unlawful detainment of civilians. According to the data published in October 2024 in the UN report, torture and ill-treatment are a part of Russia’s policy towards prisoners of war and civilians who are held captive by the RF. As of August 2024, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine investigated close to 4 thousand criminal proceedings regarding the illegal imprisonment of 15 thousand Ukrainian civilians.
To increase the fear level among Ukrainians, Russians resort to diversions in the cities in the zone of interior. Examples of such crimes include arson of cars, public institutions, and residential buildings, and the organization of terrorist acts.
Viktoriia Odusanvo