According to a United Nations (U.N.) investigation by legal experts, Russian forces have tortured and raped kids in Ukraine. They also carried out many executions during their invasion and committed other war crimes.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry, set up by the U.N. to probe the conduct of the war in Ukraine, reported its chilling findings in Geneva on Friday, September 23. The body described the long list of abuses and atrocities committed in four regions of Ukraine.
Erik Mose, the chairman of the three-member commission, told the U.N. Human Rights Council that based on the evidence gathered, the commission has concluded that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine.
Horror in Ukraine as kids raped and tortured by Russian forces
Mose said the commission has documented cases in which kids have been raped, tortured, and unlawfully confined. He added that there were cases where relatives were forced to witness the crimes.
He said that in the investigated cases, the age of victims of sexual and gendered-based violence in Ukraine ranged from 4 to 82 years. The Norwegian judge noted that children have also been killed and wounded in the indiscriminate attack by Russian troops using explosive weapons, according to NBC News.
Mose added he and his colleagues were struck by the large number of executions in the areas that they visited in Ukraine. He said that the commission is investigating executions in 16 towns and settlements. He added that the commission has credible allegations regarding many more cases of executions, which they are documenting further.
Mose noted that the execution cases often featured the prior detention of the victims and visible signs of execution on their bodies, such as gunshot wounds to the head, slit throats, and hands tied behind their backs.
Investigation focused on regions of Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kyiv
Witnesses provided them with consistent accounts of ill-treatment and torture of Ukrainians who were unlawfully detained. The update from the U.N. commission follows other allegations of war crimes from Western governments, Ukrainian authorities, and international human rights groups, including the recent discovery in the eastern town of Izyum of a mass burial site.
According to Mose, the commission also found two cases of ill-treatment against Russian troops by Ukrainian forces. While only a few in number, such cases continue to be the subject of their attention, according to the Associated Press.
The commission focused on the regions of Kharkiv, Sumy, Kyiv, and Chernihiv, visiting 27 settlements and towns and interviewing 150 victims and witnesses. Mose said that as the commission continues its investigation, it will examine the forced transfer of people in Ukraine and the alleged expedited adoption of children in the country.
Russia has repeatedly denied committing war crimes with the country defending its conduct of the war since it launched the invasion on February 24. Russian officials said that Ukrainians who relocated to Russia traveled there voluntarily.
