Filenews 1 March 2022
Russia's artillery attacks on Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, are state terrorism, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said - insisting on war crime - and called on the international community to recognise it as such.
"Terrorism is meant to bend us, to bend our resistance," he says in a video of his address posted on social media, in which he describes Kiev and Kharkiv as Russia's main targets.
It is a "war crime," he stressed, referring to the bombing of Kharkiv by Russian forces, in which at least ten people died.
Volodymyr Zelensky's statement: "The rocket in the central square of Kharkiv is an open, uncovered terror. After that, Russia is a state of terrorism. No one will forgive. No one will ever forget."
War crimes investigation examined by the International Criminal Court
It is noted that the possibility of launching an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine is being considered by the International Criminal Court.
"There is a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine," the ICC prosecutor said.
"It is my intention that this investigation will also include any new alleged crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of my Office and which are committed by any party to the conflict in any part of the territory of Ukraine," he added.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court should obtain the approval of the ICC in order to open the investigation into war crimes in Ukraine.
