Amnesty International said on Friday it had evidence of alleged war crimes committed earlier this year by Russian forces in the Kyiv region during the invasion of Ukraine.
Since the end of February, human rights group investigators have been documenting alleged war crimes in eight cities around the Ukrainian capital.
The names of some places may already be known, including Bucha and Borodyanka, where Ukrainian authorities and international media have shocked the world with images of civilian and mass graves tied and slaughtered.
What Amnesty has done is interview the survivors and gather evidence, said Agnes Kalamar, secretary general of Amnesty International.
“In other words, we know that the crimes committed against the people living here are not just anecdotal,” she told a news conference in Kyiv after the report of the investigation was published. “We know that they are part of a model that has characterized Russia’s behavior in hostilities from the very beginning.”
Spent ammunition coincides with Russian military units
As part of forensics, the human rights group says it has compared specific spent munitions to specific elite Russian military units accused of committing atrocities.
Amnesty says it has documented illegal airstrikes against Borodyanka that killed up to 40 people.
The attacks were disproportionate and indiscriminate, devastating an entire neighborhood and leaving thousands homeless, the report said.
In Bucha and several other towns and villages northwest of Kyiv, Amnesty International has documented 22 cases of illegal killings by Russian forces, most of which are outright extrajudicial executions.
WATCH Building a war crimes case in Bucha:
Building a war crimes case in horror, loss in Bucha
Warning: This story contains graphic details The bodies of civilians killed in Bucha are still being processed in the morgue as survivors talk of the horrors of Russia’s takeover and officials continue to build war crimes cases. 2:09
“It is vital that all those responsible, including those above the chain of command, are brought to justice,” Kalamar said.
Dozens of witnesses have been questioned
Amnesty investigators interviewed 45 people who witnessed – or knew firsthand – the illegal killings of relatives and neighbors of Russian soldiers, and 39 others who witnessed or knew firsthand about airstrikes aimed at to eight residential buildings.
Amnesty also admitted that it had considered allegations by Russian authorities that Russian prisoners of war had been ill-treated by Ukrainians.
In particular, he reviewed a video that was being distributed online and found it to be authentic.
Kalamar said her organization does not discriminate and believes all possible war crimes deserve a full investigation.
Amnesty noted that a recent Ukrainian law requiring co-operation with the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes explicitly excludes accusations against Ukrainian forces.
Kalamar said that all trials or mechanisms should be as comprehensive as possible and ensure that all perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression in Ukraine, from all parties to the conflict, are brought to justice. in a fair trial without resorting to the death penalty.
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