With the Participation of the Razumkov Centre, the Public Council at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine adopted the Statement on Genocide in Ukraine dated 26 April 2022.

STATEMENT

Of the Public Council at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Of 26 April 2022

During the large-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022, the invaders committed unprecedented in their brutality mass crimes against humanity and war crimes as defined in Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Article 6 of the International Military Tribunal of 8 August 1945. The actions of Russian forces have all the marks of genocide provided for in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and in Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the ICC. It is about the following:

1. Intentional mass killings of civilians, rocket attacks and bombings of residential areas of cities, mass shooting of civilians in the settlements of Bucha, Borodyanka, Mariupol, Gostomel and others.
2. Purposeful destruction of the country’s infrastructure, life support system of the population of Ukraine.
3. Forced deportation and mass abductions of Ukrainians to the territory of the aggressor country, including a large number of children.
4. Such actions are committed with the intention to exterminate Ukrainians as a separate national group, completely or partially. The Russian regime has formed a Ukrainian-hating ideology aiming to prove the “second-rateness” of Ukrainians, the artificial nature of our statehood, and deny the national identity of Ukrainian culture and the longevity of Ukrainian history. On this basis, Russian troops are totally exterminating Ukrainians, destroying historical and cultural monuments, and ravaging Ukrainian cities and villages.

The process of international recognition of the crimes of genocide committed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine has now begun. Making relevant court decisions is obviously a complex and lengthy process. But, along with work in the courts, the political and legal assessment of Russia’s crimes in Ukraine is also important. The actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine were recognised as genocide by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Canada, the leaders of the United States, Colombia and others. This process continues.

The Public Council at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine considers it important to provide the world community with objective information about Russian crimes, and to promote further recognition of Russia’s genocide in Ukraine by foreign states, national parliaments and international institutions.