Russia Must be Held Accountable for Genocide of Ukrainians

The crimes of the Russians occupation forces during the full-scale aggression against Ukraine fall under the articles of the 1948 Genocide Convention, and Ukraine is working to bring Russian criminals to justice for the genocide of the Ukrainian people, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, according to the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

“The crimes of Russians in Ukraine are genocide by all signs. Killing Ukrainians just because they are Ukrainians, intense incitement to genocide by the Russian national media, Russian officials and Putin personally. The frightening facts of the forced removal of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to Russia, where they are transferred to Russian families and brought up by force as Russians, destroying their Ukrainian identity,” Kuleba said in a video address at the conference entitled “International Law against Genocide” organized by the Zentrum Liberale Moderne in Berlin.

Kuleba stressed that the Russians often do not even conceal their intentions to destroy the Ukrainians as a national group, in particular, by forcible removal of Ukrainian children.

“This is Russia’s systemic state policy of kidnapping thousands of Ukrainian children, taking them to Russia using coercion or deceit, and transferring them to Russian families, where they should be raised as Russians. We have repeatedly strongly condemned these crimes, we are actively working together with Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and international structures to establish the facts in order to collect evidence in a future genocide case,” he said.

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Kuleba pointed out that the genocidal rhetoric has only intensified in the Russian national media and in statements by Russian officials after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“One Russian state publication went so far as to write about the ‘final solution of the Ukrainian issue’. One can only guess whether the parallel was conscious or not, but the statement itself is frightening,” he said, addressing the German audience in the hall.

Kuleba stressed that Ukraine, together with partners, is making every effort to bring the perpetrators of the Ukrainian genocide to justice.

“The terrible reality of the genocide proves that Ukraine has only one way: to defend itself, to liberate its territories and people. We have no other choice but to win this war and bring Putin and the many, many people around and under him to account,” he said.

In particular, Kuleba recalled Ukraine’s initiative to create a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine in order to bring Russia’s top political and military leadership to justice. He added that Ukraine counts on Germany’s support of this initiative.