While Kostin said in a video published on the X social platform, he is certain Ukraine will be victorious, he also said that “
the victory cannot be complete without justice prevailing.”
“To restore justice, we need your help,” he addressed Ukrainians who have fled their country in the face of Russian aggression and are currently residing in Poland.
“If you have experienced or witnessed Russian war crimes,
go to the nearest police station in the place where you are staying,” he appealed, stressing that investigators will need all the important information; not just testimonies, but also photos and recordings.
He was seconded in his appeal by his counterpart and Poland’s Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar, who said that the Polish prosecutors’ cooperation with their Ukrainian colleagues and their work with Ukrainian refugees will facilitate “obtaining as much evidence [as possible] attesting to the Russian aggression, the Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine,” and
stressed Poland’s efforts to shed more light on Russian war crimes and “helping the Ukrainian authorities to bring [the perpetrators - PAP] guilty of war crimes to justice.”
Justice awaits Putin
Kostin said that Russian President Vladimir
Putin will be “prosecuted and tried” for the atrocities committed by the Russians in Ukraine.
“I believe that our case will be prepared, and when [the] time comes, when and if Putin will be available, he will be prosecuted and tried by the International Criminal Court or by a special tribunal,” he told the Euronews media outlet earlier that week, calling the collection of evidence “our obligation” to which he and his fellow prosecutor’s are “committed to fulfilling.”
He also stressed that delivering justice is “always about deterrence,” so that “aggressors [are held] accountable so that others who are thinking about waging aggressive wars will know that the civilized world will stand together in order to prosecute and to punish them.”
But he also said that “additional instruments” must be created to ensure that that is the case.
Ukraine is currently investigating some
123,000 war crimes committed by the Russians since the launch of Moscow’s full-scale invasion against its neighbor. Aside from murder and torture, the number includes
274 cases of sexual violence, as well as the
abduction of some 20,000 Ukrainian children for the purpose of depriving them of their national identity, a crime that Europe has not seen on such a scale since the mass child kidnappings perpetrated by Nazi Germany in various occupied territories during World War Two.
The
International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for President Putin and
Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s “Children’s Rights Commissioner,” for the child abductions perpetrated by the Russians.
Abducting children for the purpose of depriving them of their national or ethnic identity is a war crime classified as an act of genocide.
Ukrainian prosecutors are supported by their colleagues from
Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and the U.S. in documenting evidence Russian of atrocities. More than 20 countries have opened similar investigations, some based on universal jurisdiction, and some 40 countries are currently negotiating to set up a
special tribunal for the crime of aggression.
