KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday welcomed a decision from the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Russia’s chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, and former defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
The warrants – issued over strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure that constitute alleged war crimes – are the latest in a series of actions by the court over the Ukraine war, including an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“These barbaric missile and drone strikes continue to kill people and inflict damage across Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
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“This decision is a clear indication that justice for Russian crimes against Ukrainians is inevitable,” he added.
“Every criminal involved in the planning and execution of these strikes must know that justice will be served. And we do hope to see them behind bars,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on social media.
The two men are accused of the war crimes of directing attacks at civilian objects and causing excessive incidental harm to civilians, as well as the crime against humanity of “inhumane acts” in Ukraine, the ICC said in a statement.
The Ukrainian presidency’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote that “Shoigu and Gerasimov bear individual responsibility” for the strikes.
“This is an important decision. Everyone will be held accountable for evil,” he said.
“Every war criminal should be held accountable,” said Ukraine’s human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets.
The country’s prosecutor general’s office also welcomed the news in a statement.
“This is a new significant step towards full accountability for the aggressor,” it said.
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