Several countries and international organizations, including the UN, have promised to do everything possible to bring to justice all those responsible for committing war crimes in the course of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, the victims and their families must be compensated for the harm they have suffered and the tragedy they have endured.

According to her, to date, the UN has already registered and confirmed by name 5,939 civilian casualties, including 2,787 dead and 3,152 injured.

“The real numbers are much higher and my office is working to establish them,” Bachelet said, adding that most of these people were victims of the use of weapons of mass destruction in densely populated areas, whether by artillery shelling, rocket or bombing.

In turn, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Irina Venediktova, announced via video link that she had opened more than 8,000 cases of violations of the rules of warfare.

And International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan noted that 43 countries – a record number – have filed allegations of violations of the laws of war in Ukraine.

“The law is the same for all parties to the conflict, be it Ukraine or Russia, and persons acting on behalf of the state or independently have clearly defined responsibilities,” he stressed, promising to conduct an independent investigation into each case.

Meanwhile, Russia continues to accuse Ukraine of committing crimes and calls the ICC a biased and politicized organization.

The Parliament of Canada has condemned Russia for its actions in Ukraine, which have been characterized as genocide.

The legislators concluded that there is clear and strong evidence of systematic and widespread war crimes against humanity committed by Russian forces.

On April 21, the parliaments of Estonia and Latvia recognized the Russian war in Ukraine as genocide.

The presidents of Poland and the United States also condemned the killings of civilians by the Russian army, calling them genocide, but a number of other world leaders, including the French president, refrain from such a definition.

According to international law, genocide is the deliberate intent to partially or completely destroy any national, ethnic, racial or religious group of people.

US special envoy for international justice Beth van Schaak told the UN that the United States has credible information that the Russian military shot Ukrainians who tried to surrender near Donetsk.

“If these facts are confirmed, it will be a fundamental violation of the principles of warfare,” van Schaak stressed.

She also noted that the United States has credible reports of people being shot with their hands tied, bodies with marks of torture, and horrific sexual abuse of women and girls.

“All these photographs and reports indicate that these atrocities were not the result of the actions of individuals or units,” – says van Schaak. According to her, systematic crimes of the Russian military are more likely to be seen behind this.

Those who allow and encourage such crimes will have to answer for them under the law, the American representative warned.

“I want to convey one simple idea to the Russian military and political leadership – the whole world is watching you, and we will call you to account,” she concluded.