Germany has collected evidence of hundreds of war crimes cases in Ukraine, with pieces of evidence in the “three-digit range,” German Prosecutor General Peter Frank told Welt am Sonntag media outlet on Feb. 4.
“Currently, for example, we are focusing on the mass killings in Bucha or attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure,” Frank said, as quoted by the media.
Frank said that they “are not yet investigating specific people, but rather collecting information and evidence,” also questioning Ukrainian refugees who “may have knowledge of war crimes in Ukraine.”
“Together with other international partners, we have developed a coordinated questionnaire that is available in several languages. So far, we have received indications in the three-digit range,” he said.
Frank also said that “a possible special tribunal is being discussed because it is currently not possible to prosecute the Russian war of aggression before the International Criminal Court.”
Almost a year into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Moscow is believed to have killed tens of thousands of civilians across Ukraine and caused immeasurable damage to Ukrainian cities.
In Bucha alone, a small city in Kyiv Oblast, Russian forces killed at least 461 civilians during the month of occupation, according to the National Police of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Jan. 28 that the Russian military had committed 66,743 war crimes and crimes of aggression in Ukraine since the start of the all-out war.
In January, the European Parliament passed a vote on the creation of a special international tribunal to judge Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine.
According to the report, the tribunal will fill the gap “in international criminal justice,” allowing it to prosecute Russia's political and military leadership for its crime of aggression against Ukraine.
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