GENEVA (AN) — A panel of U.N. human rights experts cited more evidence of torture, rape and other war crimes by Russian forces invading Ukraine.
The U.N.'s Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it also is investigating allegations of Russians committing genocide since the full-scale invasion began in Feb. 2022.
Though the three-member panel, which reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council, found evidence of human rights abuses on both sides, it said those committed by Russian forces far outweighed those by Ukraine's military.
"Well into the second year of the armed conflict, people in Ukraine have been continuing to cope with the loss and injury of loved ones, large-scale destruction, suffering and trauma as well as economic hardship that have resulted from it," said Erik Møse, a Norwegian judge who chairs the commission.
"Thousands have been killed and injured, and millions remain internally displaced or out of the country. The commission is concerned by the continuous evidence of war crimes committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine," he said.
Møse said the commission has begun more in-depth investigations into unlawful attacks with explosive weapons, violence against civilians, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and strikes against energy infrastructure.
"This may also clarify whether torture and attacks on energy infrastructure amount to crimes against humanity," he said, adding that the commission "regrets that all communications" to Russian officials "remain unanswered."
The findings were delivered as part of an oral update to the Geneva-based council of 47 U.N. member nations that first authorized the commission in March 2022, soon after the expanded invasion of Ukraine's territory.
'The difference only increases'
Commission members, including Pablo de Greiff of Colombia and Vrinda Grover of India, travelled more than 10 times to Ukraine, meeting with authorities in Kyiv and with the survivors of an attack on a residential building in Uman that killed 24 civilians and made part of the building uninhabitable.
"Attacks with explosive weapons in populated areas have led to extensive destruction and damage and have been the leading cause of deaths and injuries among the civilian population," Møse said.
The U.N. General Assembly suspended Russia from the council last year, but Moscow now wants to rejoin the world's top human rights body in Geneva, the BBC reported.
After briefing the council in Geneva, panel member told reporters the abuses on both sides are far from equal.
Russians committed a wide array of violations such the killing of civilians, rape and sexual offenses, and the deportation of children, Møse said, while Ukrainians carried out indiscriminate attacks and ill treatment of Russians in captivity.
"The difference only increases," de Greiff said in dismissing comparisons between the two sides. "It is even less true today than it was when we first met, that there is an equivalence in the violations that are committed by each side in the conflict."
Grover said there also is a huge difference in the information received from both sides; Ukraine is cooperating, but Russia is not.
"We are not receiving any access or information from the Russian side," she said. "From the Russian side there is no acknowledgement to any communication from the commission at all."
This story has been updated with additional details.
