Assessing the Responsibilities of the International Criminal Court in the Investigation of War Crimes in Ukraine

Abstract

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are working in cooperation with the International Criminal Court - ICC and countries that jointly support the ICC to collect evidence of Russia’s atrocity crimes in order to hold the alleged perpetrators accountable. The collection of evidence in the situation of Ukraine ever turned into an unprecedented investigation of the likely international crimes committed by Russian armed forces in Ukraine. This study aims to determine the fundamental role and significance of the ICC in a collective investigation of the situation in Ukraine. Knowing that the definition of the term “war crimes” does not exist in the current legislation of Ukraine, this study attempts a correlative analysis of the term “war crimes” in the context of international law and finds that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and institutions are capable of documenting war crimes committed in Ukraine by the Russian Federation. This suggests that the ICC, in comparison to its previous international investigations, definitively has a wide range of support resources to hold accountable “those most responsible“ for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, as emphasized in its prosecutorial policy documents.