President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky spoke at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He began his speech with a joke:
“Of course, we all want to see another Vladimir here in The Hague. One that deserves to be condemned. This must be done here in the capital of international law. It will happen when we win. And we will win."
In addition, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine is confronting not one aggressor, but the crime of aggression. This is the name given to the planning, preparation or implementation of an act of aggression using state military resources:
“If we look at any aggressive war in history, we see one pattern: those who started the war did not believe that they would ever have to bear responsibility for it. But the war must be condemned. The impunity of aggression means that we need to fight it.”
The President of Ukraine also turned to statistical data. He stated that Russia had committed 6,139 war crimes in April alone. They led to the death of 207 civilians, including 17 children:
“Full-scale war has been going on for the 15th month. Yesterday in the Kherson region killed 23 people, another 48 were injured. I emphasize that we are talking about civilians. It started more than nine years ago with the occupation of our lands, the occupation of Crimea, when the Russians brought a hybrid war to the Donbass.”
Zelensky proposed the creation of an international tribunal to investigate Russia's war crimes. At the same time, he criticized the "hybrid tribunal" scheme that the United States had previously proposed. According to it, the tribunal should be created within the framework of the judicial system of Ukraine, but "with the involvement of international experts." Also during his speech, Zelensky honored the memory of those killed in the crash of the Malaysian Boeing in 2014:
“During the nine years of the war, the occupation of our lands, our Crimea, when the Russians brought a hybrid war to the Donbass, hundreds of thousands of war crimes were committed. A Russian rocket killed 23 residents in Uman. And that's not counting the victims of flight MH17. I ask you to honor the memory of these people with a moment of silence.”