The United States and its allies vowed Thursday to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed by its forces that invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and gave strong support to investigations by the International Criminal Court, the United Nations, and other bodies.
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US Undersecretary of State Uzra Zeya told a UN Security Council meeting on strengthening accountability and justice for serious violations of international law that in nearly 100 days the world has seen Russian forces bomb maternity hospitals, train stations, apartment buildings, and homes, and kill civilians cycling down the street.
"We've received credible reports of Russian forces torturing and committing execution-style killings of people with their hands bound behind their back," she said. "We've received reports of women and girls being raped, some publicly, and children taken away into Russia and put up for adoption. And we know that Russian forces continue to deny safe passage to civilians fleeing violence, and to humanitarian organizations trying to reach those in need."
Zeya said the United States is working with its allies to support a broad range of international investigations into atrocities in Ukraine. And she said the Biden administration has a message for Russia's political and military leaders: "The world is watching you, and you will be held accountable."
Ireland's Attorney General Paul Gallagher welcomed the many efforts over the last three months to support calls for justice in Ukraine. He said Ireland was one of 41 countries that quickly referred the situation in Ukraine to the ICC, which has deployed a team of 42 investigators, forensic experts and support staff to investigate Russian crimes and support the country's efforts.
Ireland is also encouraged by the UN Human Rights Council's establishment of an Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine and the "significant and welcome coordination" of investigation efforts, he said.
"If we are to achieve justice for victims and survivors, it is essential that we ensure that this momentum is maintained and that these investigations ultimately result in fair and impartial criminal prosecutions where there is evidence to support them," Gallagher said.
Britain's deputy UN ambassador James Kariuki called Russia's "unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine" a violation of international law and the UN Charter.
While Russia's veto power has blocked the Security Council from taking action on Ukraine, he said, it has not prevented "the international system from taking steps to pursue justice."
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Western nations of "hypocrisy" for suddenly seeking international criminal justice over what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
In sharp contrast, he claimed that during NATO attacks in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria "international law was perceived only as an annoying impediment" and alleged war crimes went unpunished.
Nebenzia also accused the West of using the ICC "as a political tool," claiming that "neither the ICC nor the West are bothered about numerous crimes of the Kyiv regime" that came to power in 2014 and continues to attack civilians in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
The Russian military recently launched a major offensive in Donbas and its officials have said Moscow's main goal is to "liberate" the region which is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine. Russian-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces there since 2014, when Ukraine's Moscow-friendly president was driven from office by protests.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned that "impunity fuels and intensifies" many crises and "emboldens perpetrators, silences victims and undermines prospects for peace, human rights and development."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces locked in a grinding battle for control of the country's east, struggled on Thursday to hold off Russian troops and buy themselves some time while they await the arrival of the advanced rockets and anti-aircraft weapons promised by the West.
With the arms deliveries possibly weeks away, Ukraine is looking at a prolonged period of grueling combat, military analysts said.
"There's a time lag, so the next few weeks are going to be pretty tough for our Ukrainian friends," said retired US Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commanding general of US Army forces in Europe.
Ukraine is intent on exhausting Russian forces, as evidenced by street-to-street fighting in the critical eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said.
"And this can go on for quite some time," he warned.
Britain on Thursday pledged to send sophisticated medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine, joining the US and Germany in equipping the country with some of the advanced weapons Kyiv had been begging for to shoot down aircraft and destroy artillery and supply lines.
The Kremlin warned of "absolutely undesirable and rather unpleasant scenarios" if the latest Western-supplied weapons are fired into Russia.
"This pumping of Ukraine with weapons ... will bring more suffering to Ukraine, which is merely a tool in the hands of those countries that supply it with weapons," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
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Russian forces continued to pound towns and cities and tighten their grip on Sievierodonetsk in the eastern industrial Donbas region, which Moscow is intent on seizing. An estimated 800 people, including children, were holed up in bomb shelters at a chemical factory under attack in the city, the regional governor said.
In the neighboring city of Lysychansk, some 60% of the infrastructure and residential buildings have been destroyed by non-stop shelling, the mayor said.
Britain's Defense Ministry reported that Russia had captured most of Sievierodonetsk, one of two cities in Luhansk province that had remained under Ukrainian control. The Donbas is made up of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that there has been "some progress" in the battle for Sievierodonetsk but it was too early to give specifics.
He said he was thankful to the United States for agreeing to send the advanced rocket systems, which "really can save the lives of our people and defend our land."
