An advanced group from The Hague is on the way to investigate war crimes in Ukraine

This was reported by Ukrinform with reference to Reuters.

"On Thursday, the advanced group left the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for Ukraine to begin an investigation into possible war crimes," Karim Khan, head of the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor's office, told Reuters.

It is noted that their departure left hours after Karim Khan announced that work to gather evidence had begun on Russian aggression.

"Yesterday I formed a team, and today they are moving to the region," Khan said.

He also stressed that possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by all parties to the conflict will be studied.

As Ukrinform reported, work on gathering evidence in the case of Russia's attack on Ukraine has begun.

The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, the Netherlands, has received a request from 39 member states to investigate the situation in Ukraine over the Russian attack.

These appeals provide an opportunity to launch an investigation into the situation in Ukraine from 21 November 2013, thus covering any previous and current allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed in any part of Ukraine by any person.

Appeals about the situation in Ukraine, in particular, came from Austria, the Czech Republic, Canada, Poland, Great Britain, Georgia, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

The ICC prosecutor also called on all those involved in hostilities in Ukraine to strictly adhere to current norms of international humanitarian law.

Since 2015, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has officially had the power to investigate crimes committed on Ukrainian territory, following a request from the Ukrainian government.

In December 2020, the Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Court decided to complete a preliminary study of the events in Ukraine related to the international armed conflict in Donbas and Crimea. Completion of the preliminary investigation means that the results of crimes committed in the Crimea and Donbas can be fully investigated. Violations of international humanitarian and criminal law Since 2015, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has been analyzing.

During the armed aggression, Ukraine submitted to the criminal court evidence of the most serious war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ukraine has submitted two applications to the Hague Criminal Court. The first is the events on the Maidan. The second is Crimea and Donbass.

The International Criminal Court was established on the basis of the Rome Statute. Ratification of the Rome Statute means extending the competence of the ICC to the states that have ratified it. Today it is more than 100 countries.

On January 20, 2000, Ukraine signed the Rome Statute of the ISS, but did not ratify it. Although Ukraine is not a party to the Statute, this did not prevent it from applying to the ICC, as the Rome Statute itself provides for such an opportunity for the signatories.

At the same time, Russia withdrew its signature under the Rome Statute. However, this does not prevent the prosecution of Russian citizens for crimes committed in Ukraine.