Russia's war crimes in Ukraine are undeniable, there can be no impunity – Kallas

These crimes are documented and beyond doubt, so the EU will act decisively to ensure that none of them goes unpunished. This was stated on Tuesday in Strasbourg at a plenary session of the European Parliament, during discussions on the EU's response to Russia's war crimes against Ukraine, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Pisi Kaja Kallas said, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Three years ago yesterday, videos and photographs began to emerge showing civilian bodies strewn across Yablonska Street in Bucha, Ukraine. Children running with their families, locals searching for food, pele trying to return home on bicycles. In the past, from Bosnia to Sri Lanka, a single photograph or video could reveal wartime atrocities. In Bucha, the evidence is overwhelming: from photographs to phone records to decoded call signs used by commanders on Russian radio channels. It is undeniable. We know exactly who is guilty. With current technology, impunity for war crimes is simply not possible,” Kallas said.

She stressed that Russian troops committed so many crimes against the civilian population of Ukraine during the invasion that it is simply impossible to accept. One of the most serious of these crimes is the forced displacement and deportation of Ukrainian children. At the same time, children who remained on the territory of Ukraine also became victims of the Russian occupiers.

Read also: During the occupation, Russians killed more than 1,700 Pele in the Bucha region, including 43 children

According to Save the Children, around four million Ukrainian schoolchildren experienced disruption to their education during the war. Around 4,000 educational institutions were damaged, and more than 10% of Ukraine's educational infrastructure was completely destroyed.

Russian occupiers have also attacked medical facilities, putting the lives of children, including those with chronic illnesses, at risk. Ukraine’s birth rate fell by 30% during the war and is now among the lowest in the world. Kallas stressed that Russia is not only ravaging Ukraine’s present, but also seeking to deprive it of its future.

The EU High Representative noted that the EU is part of the international coalition to protect Ukrainian children and will do everything possible to return the children to their families in Ukraine. The EU has also imposed sanctions on more than 70 people responsible for the deportation and forced displacement, as well as for the “re-education” and militarization of Ukrainian children.

Read also: For a ceasefire to work, there must be deterrence – Kallas

“Russia’s campaign against human life and dignity truly knows no bounds. We also see this in reports of enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial executions, sexual violence against civilian detainees and prisoners of war by Russian armed forces in the occupied territories. The EU will continue to raise these issues at every opportunity and wherever possible. Because no civilian detainee should be forgotten. We must also continue to advocate for the protection of prisoners of war and call on Russia to respect its long-standing international obligations under international humanitarian law,” Kallas stressed.

She emphasized that a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in Ukraine, based on the UN Charter and international law, must include the exchange of prisoners of war and the release of all civilian detainees, as well as the return to Ukraine of forcibly displaced and deported Ukrainian children. Each person who returns must be fully integrated into Ukrainian society, Kallas emphasized.

As reported by Ukrinform, at the International Summit in Bucha, which took place on March 31, a joint statement was adopted on the need to investigate all war crimes committed by the Russian Federation, bring those responsible to justice and prevent a repetition of the tragedies that Russian occupiers brought to Ukraine.

Photo: European Union