UN Commission declares lack of evidence of genocide by Russia. Ukraine reacts

This is reported by Radio Liberty.

"At this stage, we have not yet come to the conclusion that genocide is taking place in Ukraine," said the chairman of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Violations in Ukraine, Erik Møse. 

According to him, the commission does not have sufficient evidence to meet the legal qualification of the Genocide Convention.

"We are well aware of the concerns and accusations about this crime. Therefore, we are investigating it step by step. At this time, we do not have sufficient available evidence to meet the legal qualification under the Genocide Convention. You remember that this is a question of intent, the intent of the perpetrators. There must be a "need" to destroy a certain group. And such destruction, according to the Convention, must be physical or biological. These are the strict conditions that have been confirmed by judicial practice," said the chairman of the commission.

Mr. Møse noted that the UN will continue to investigate in Ukraine. Earlier, the commission has already noted that "there were certain statements in the Russian media that may have been related to the issue of incitement to genocide."

"This is one line that we follow, and we will consider it. But there are no conclusions so far," Mr. Møse added.

According to him, this issue should not be considered separately from our other findings.

"As you know, we found a large number of war crimes. We found that in at least two cases, namely torture and attacks (on Ukraine's energy infrastructure - ed.) since October 2022, the question is whether they should be considered crimes against humanity... And we have determined that there are indications that this may be a crime against humanity. So I think it's useful to look at everything in context," summarized the head of the UN commission of inquiry into violations in Ukraine.

Ukraine's reaction

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, said that the UN was giving a master class in political ignorance and indirectly encouraging the perpetrator.

He recalled the torture of Ukrainians in filtration camps, calls for murder, and attempts to destroy energy infrastructure.

"Oh, yes, the Russians are not yet acting like they did in Rwanda, they are not killing people by the millions. If Ukrainians voluntarily came out on the road, knelt down, humbly gave their heads to Russian soldiers to be chopped off, en masse, for the record, then yes. Then we are talking about genocide. Otherwise, it's just a proper war, where there is a little bit of slaughter, burning, and rape on ethnic and state grounds. And let them continue, right, Mr. Møse? They have the right, because the UN encourages it, right?" Podoliak wrote.

• A similar statement about the lack of evidence of the genocide of Ukrainians was made by the head of the UN International Commission of Inquiry, Erik Møse, in March during a press conference in Geneva. At the same time, he noted that a wide range of Russian war crimes had been revealed in Ukraine.
• And the day before, in October 2022, an independent UN international commission of inquiry into the events in Ukraine found evidence of a number of war crimes, human rights violations, and violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Russians.
• The Office of the Prosecutor General stated that since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has recorded 100,666 war crimes committed by Russian occupiers.