War in Ukraine | “It’s not just to kill civilians, it’s to kill the future”

As the International Criminal Court announces a major investigation into war crimes in Ukraine, an expert points out that Russian troops are now replicating what they did in Syria

Destruction of schools and other war crimes

The International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United States are preparing to deploy unprecedented efforts to demonstrate that the massacre of thousands of Ukrainian civilians amounts to war crimes.

The ICC announced on Tuesday that a team of 42 investigators and experts would leave for Ukraine without delay. And that this is his “most important mission [en matière] number of personnel ever deployed on the ground in one go”.

A few hours later, Washington launched a “conflict observatory” responsible for “collecting, analyzing and sharing” evidence that could be used against those responsible for “atrocities”.

The immediate dispatch of ICC investigators is “a surprise,” said Miriam Cohen, holder of the Canada Research Chair in International Justice and Fundamental Rights and researcher at the University of Montreal (UdeM).

Ukrainian investigators claim to have already identified “more than 8,000 cases” of alleged war crimes. According to them, Russia has notably bombed more than 1,000 schools, in addition to hospitals.

“When infrastructure like this is targeted, it’s not just to kill civilians, it’s to kill the future,” says Miriam Cohen.

“It’s not a waste of time when you attack so systematically places that the army can locate very well on maps. »

Russian troops are replicating what they did in Syria, says the researcher.

Killer darts

Ukrainians returning to live in the Kyiv suburbs find razor-sharp darts there. These miniature weapons are hidden by the thousands in shells, which propel them great distances by exploding.

Although their use against civilians is prohibited, they have also been found in the corpses of Boutcha victims, said Liudmila Denisova, Ukrainian ombudswoman for human rights.

“It is really designed to damage the body as much as possible, denounces M^me Cohen. The Russians have a habit of using particularly horrific weapons. »

Putin acts as a “colonel”

Russian President Vladimir Putin interferes in planning soldiers’ movements as if he were a colonel, according to military sources quoted in The Guardian.

“Generally, it’s a very bad sign when politicians no longer trust what military professionals do in the field. At the end of the Second World War, Hitler was constantly involved in operations on the Eastern Front,” analyzes Michel Fortmann, specialist in international relations and military strategies at UdeM.

Last week, the Russians repeatedly failed to cross a strategic river in the Donbass region, their maneuvers ending in bloodshed. The disaster, betrayed by aerial photos, angered mothers or spouses of soldiers.

In an interview on Russian state television, a military columnist predicted that the situation would deteriorate further for Putin’s troops.

“We shouldn’t swallow the soothing reports sometimes disseminated about the moral and psychological collapse of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. All this is false,” declared Mikhail Khodaryonok.

Ukraine suspended talks with Russia on Tuesday, saying its adversary refuses to “understand” the situation. The Russian political elites “are afraid to tell the truth, that is to say, to withdraw from the war under completely different conditions from those initially announced”, declared a member of the Ukrainian delegation, Mykhailo Podoliak.

“A crucial deterrent”

In a historic reversal, Sweden and Finland will jointly file their NATO candidacies on Wednesday morning. The day before, 95% of Finnish parliamentarians voted in favor of joining the organization.

This time, Russia did not brandish nuclear threats. “Putin’s rhetoric has calmed down a bit because he’s totally bogged down in Ukraine and has become an international pariah. He can’t take one more front, ”says Miriam Cohen.

According to Michel Fortmann, NATO is on the contrary taking a major step.

Hosting Finland and Sweden will allow it access to their small islands in the middle of the Baltic Sea, which is essential for controlling airspace in the region and protecting the three Baltic countries. “It’s a crucial deterrent for Russia,” says the political scientist.

Ukraine cedes Mariupol

On Tuesday, Russia was on track to fully occupy the now-ruined port city of Mariupol.

Ukrainian authorities said they were working to extract the last soldiers still holed up in a huge steelworks after months of clashes.

On Monday, 260 fighters from the same garrison surrendered and were taken prisoner, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Ukraine hopes to exchange them, but Russian parliamentarian Vyacheslav Volodin claimed there were “war criminals” among Mariupol defenders, adding that they should therefore be tried rather than exchanged.

With the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, The GuardianReuters and CN