US Urges All Sides to Cooperate With Int'l Bodies on War Crimes in Ukraine - State Dept

WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) - The United States is calling on all parties to the conflict in Ukraine to cooperate with international bodies on potential war crimes committed in the country, US State Department Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack told reporters on Wednesday.

“We would obviously urge all parties to cooperate with international efforts to investigate potential crimes, crimes against humanity being committed in Ukraine. It is in the interest of all parties to have the investigations be fulsome, be fully fair, have access to all available information,” Van Schaack said.

The US diplomat pointed out the laws of war apply to all parties equally and any international effort should be focused led on all sides and collect information across the board.

When asked whether the United States is familiar with the report by Russia submitted to international organizations, including the United Nations, describing crimes committed by Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region during the past eight years, Van Schaack said the US government is familiar with the reports.

“In fact, the Moscow mechanism that was deployed by the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe was very careful about documenting abuses on all sides. And that included allegations of potential custodial abuses by Ukrainian forces with respect to members of Russian forces who fell into their custody,” she said.

Van Schaack also said the relevant international mechanisms are focused on all parties to the conflict in Ukraine and none of them is one-sided.

“What we’ve seen in practice is vastly disproportionate degree of allegations when it comes to Russia’s forces and Ukrainian forces,” she added.

Russia has repeatedly said that Ukrainian troops have tortured and maimed captured Russian soldiers and intelligence officers and civilians. In March, a footage of Ukrainian troops shooting Russian prisoners of war in the legs and leaving them to bleed.

Russia's Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin has ordered investigations into all circumstances of mistreatment and execution of Russian soldiers in Ukraine while the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, who also leads Russia's humanitarian response coordination headquarters, said international organizations are ignoring Ukraine's war crimes against its citizens.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. Russia has said the special operation aims to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine and operations solely target the country's military infrastructure.