Reported by
On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European prosecutors and Ukrainian officials announced the first criminal charges tied to atrocities committed during the war, saying cases have begun moving into court after years of coordinated investigations led by Eurojust.
Authorities from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine unveiled the charges after a joint inquiry, Eurojust said. The agency supports the work of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, which is preparing groundwork for a future tribunal on aggression.
Evidence continues to be added to a centralized database maintained by the agency, which helps national prosecutors coordinate overlapping cases.
Since 2022, a multinational investigative team involving Ukraine, six European Union countries, the International Criminal Court and Europol has focused on suspected core international crimes, particularly those linked to detention facilities. Their database, established in 2023, now contains roughly 10,000 files from 17 countries.
Rights groups say accountability remains essential. Amnesty International warned that any push to trade justice for peace would be unlawful and “morally repugnant,” while the United Nations experts said the war has fueled a worsening human rights crisis, citing enforced disappearances, torture, unlawful killings and repression inside Russia and occupied territories.
The experts also condemned Russia’s 2025 prosecution in absentia of international officials who issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin as well as Russia’s children’s rights commissioner over the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children, calling it a direct attack on international justice.
In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the conflict had left “deep scars” on Ukrainian society, pointing to mass graves and devastation in places like Bucha, Mariupol and Irpin.
“We have preserved Ukraine,” he said. “And we will do everything to secure peace and justice.”
