The International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine or the ''Situation in Ukraine'' is an ongoing investigation by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) into "any past and present allegations of

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

committed on any part of the territory of Ukraine by any person" during the period starting "from 21 November 2013 onwards", on an "open-ended basis", covering the

Revolution of Dignity The Revolution of Dignity (), also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capit ...

, the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

including the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia, the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

and the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. The ICC prosecutor commenced these investigations on 2 March 2022, after receiving referrals for the situation in Ukraine from 39 ICC State Parties. On 1 January 2025, Ukraine became the 125th member of the International Criminal Court.

Preliminary examination

, Ukraine is not party to the

Rome Statute The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...

of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

(ICC). In 2014 and 2015, the

government of Ukraine The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine (), is the highest body of state Executive (government), executive power in Ukraine. As the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republi ...

made two formal requests for the ICC to investigate any Russian war crimes and

that may have occurred in Ukraine in the 2014

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

protests and civil unrest, the 2014

annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

, and the

. The first ''declaration'' was for the dates from 21 November 2013 to 22 February 2014, covering the whole territory of Ukraine. The second ''declaration'' requested an extended investigation from 20 February with an open-ended date, again for the whole of Ukrainian territory. On 25 April 2014, the ICC started a preliminary examination of crimes against humanity that may have occurred in Ukraine in the 2014 Euromaidan protests and civil unrest, the 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and the war in Donbas. On 11 December 2020, the ICC Prosecutor found that "there was a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed", that the "alleged crimes identified would s of December 2020be admissible", and that there was "a reasonable basis for investigation, subject to judicial authorisation".

Referrals, jurisdiction and authorisation

On 25 February 2022, the day after the start of the

, ICC Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan stated that the ICC could "exercise its jurisdiction and investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within Ukraine." Khan stated on 28 February that he intended to launch a full ICC investigation and that he had requested his team to "explore all evidence preservation opportunities". He stated that it would be faster to officially open the investigation if an ICC member state referred the case for investigation, under Article 13(a) of the Rome Statute, rather than under ''proprio motu'' of Article 13(c), which would also establish

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

, but would be slower. Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė stated on 28 February that Lithuania had requested that the ICC investigation be opened. On 2 March 2022, Khan stated that he had received referrals from 39 states, enabling Khan to open an investigation under Article 14 of the Rome Statute. Khan stated that the Prosecutor's Office had already "identified potential cases that would be admissible". On 11 March, Japan and North Macedonia joined the referrals, bringing the total number of referring states to 41. On 1 or 2 March 2022, the ''Situation in Ukraine'' was assigned to Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC, with judges Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua, Tomoko Akane and Rosario Salvatore Aitala, who are required to decide whether to authorise the investigation after they receive a request for authorisation from the Prosecutor, Khan.

List of countries that referred the situation in Ukraine to the ICC

The countries that referred the case of war crimes in Ukraine to the ICC include the following:

Investigation

Prosecutor Khan stated on 3 March 2022 that an initial team consisting of "investigators, lawyers, and people with particular experience in operational planning" was sent to Ukraine region to begin collecting evidence. On 11 March 2022 he announced that his office had created a dedicated portal through which any person holding information relevant to the Ukraine situation can contact the ICC investigators. On 16 March 2022, the ICC Prosecutor visited western Ukraine and Poland to personally assess the situation on the ground in Ukraine. During this visit, the ICC Prosecutor met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prosecutor-General of Ukraine, and met the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, virtually. The ICC Prosecutor joined Zelensky's view that every possible effort should be made to ensure that the conduct of hostilities does not give rise to breaches of international humanitarian law, and declared that his office may investigate and prosecute any attacks intentionally directed against the civilian population or civilian objects.

Arrest warrants

On 22 February 2023, Karim Ahmad Khan requested Pre-Trial Chamber II to issue warrants for the arrest of

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

, president of the Russian Federation, and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights in Russia, on the basis of "reasonable grounds" that they "bear criminal responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, contrary to article 8(2)(a)(vii) and article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the

". Khan stated that "at least hundreds of children" had been deported to Russia, and that Putin had issued presidential decrees making it easier to give the children Russian citizenship. Khan's office interpreted the events as "an intention to permanently remove hechildren from their own country". On 17 March 2023, the Pre-Trial Chamber issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova. On 5 March 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for senior military officials Viktor Sokolov and Sergey Kobylash, on reasonable grounds of suspecting them of the war crimes of directing attacks at civilian objects and of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects (Articles 8(2)(b)(ii) and 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute) and of the crime against humanity of inhumane acts under article 7(1)(k). As of March 2024, the details of the warrants were kept secret to protect witnesses and protect the investigation. On 24 June 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian politician and military officer Sergei Shoigu and Russian army general

Valery Gerasimov Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov (born 8 September 1955) is a Russian Army general (Russia), army general serving as the Chief of the General Staff (Russia), Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and First Deputy Ministry of Defen ...

. The 125 member states of the ICC are obliged to detain and transfer any of the indicted individuals if any of them set foot on their territory.

Resources

On 4 March 2022,

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) justice ministers requested Eurojust to support war crimes and crimes against humanity investigations by national courts and by the ICC. On 23 March 2022, the French

Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs may refer to: * Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (Albania) * Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France) The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (, MEAE) is the ministry of the Government ...

declared that it would provide of extra funding to the ICC and would increase the support "if need be".

Issues with enforcement

The ICC relies on member countries to assist with investigation and enforcement. However, many countries are not members of the ICC, including

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Russia withdrew its signature from the Rome Statute in 2016, after the ICC ruled that Russia's invasion of Crimea amounted to an "ongoing occupation". Therefore, Russia has no legal obligation to cooperate with the ICC and would be unlikely to hand over suspects for trial or prosecution, particularly President Vladimir Putin. Since Russia is not a member of the ICC, enforcing arrest warrants against suspects located on Russian territory is expected to be difficult. Earlier, in April 2022, United States authorities had stated that the US would help the International Criminal Court to prosecute Russian President

and others for war crimes committed during the invasion of Ukraine. On 19 March 2023, German Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann confirmed in an interview that Germany would arrest Putin should he set foot on German soil. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin refused to cooperate with the ICC in the investigation of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, out of concern that doing so could legitimize the ICC's investigation of

United States war crimes This article contains a chronological list of incidents in the military history of the United States in which war crimes occurred, including the summary execution of captured enemy combatants, the prisoner abuse, mistreatment of prisoners duri ...

References

External links

ICC Situation in Ukraine overview

Office of the Prosecutor contact pathway
{{2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, War crimes

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

War crimes in Ukraine War crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian invasion of Ukraine legal issues Reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian war crimes in Ukraine