Note: Some items on this list may include actions committed under Poroshenko (2014-2019).
(1) Blocking flow of river water to Crimea — collective punishment for voting to secede and join RF
(2) Humiliating treatment of POWs, parading humiliating photos and videos of them on social media — violation of Geneva Convention of 1949, which states: “Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.” (Part II, Article 13) and “Prisoners of war are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their persons and their honour.” (Part II, Article 14)
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Geneva_Convention/Third_Geneva_Convention
(3) Covering up war crimes by prosecuting them as regular crimes — as openly discussed last year by a Ukrainian lawmaker working to address this, in interview with Western NGO (i.e. biased in favor of the post-Maidan government):
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/oleksandra-matviychuk-ukraine-needs-war-crime-legislation/
Excerpt below, emphasis added:
“We have Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Violation of the laws and customs of war”), which establishes responsibility for war crimes. But it is absolutely unsuitable. It does not clearly define what war crimes are, it refers to international law. That is, you need to know about 30 international treaties and be able to use them. In Ukraine, as a country of the former Soviet Union, which has renewed its independence and is trying to build a developed democracy, the level of legal consciousness remains instructive. That is, if something is not spelled out in the Criminal Code, no one will look for an international convention and try to apply it. After analysing court cases over the past six years, we found that until recently only two sentences had been passed for war crimes.”
(4) The videotaped torture of a captured Russian MMA fighter Maxim Ryndovsky — can’t vouch for authenticity of this one, but this is according to Clint Ehrlich, a “foreign-policy analyst” whose work appears in Western press (WaPo, BBC, Foreign Policy Magazine)
https://twitter.com/ClintEhrlich/status/1500254722816569344
(4) Not a war crime per se but Ukraine’s creation of an international legion of foreign fighters has involved advertisements social media posts soliciting people from most countries of the world, including countries which are bound by treaty to not allow their citizens to join such units.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Mercenary_Convention
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Legion_of_Territorial_Defense_of_Ukraine
https://www.reuters.com/article/idAFL5N2V659C
(5) What ever the fuck this is /s
(6) Failure to investigate and prosecute the mass killing in Odessa during 2014 coup — not a war crime necessarily idk
“Not a single person is convicted or under arrest for the massacre of the protesters and the police almost 8 years after one of the most documented mass killings in history.”
(7) Deliberate violation of ceasefires throughout 2014-2022 period, in clear violation of Minsk Agreements — most memorable example to me is from last year, when Ukraine government used a Turkish-made drone to attack people in rebel-held territory, and then published the video on their official Facebook pages.
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-turkish-drone-separatists/31532268.html
Gonna leave at that, but if first-person testimony meets your standard for credibility, this westerner has some decent English-subtitled interviews with inhabitants of the frontline villages, including one from before invasion (I think) where a farmer talks about suspected chemical agents being deployed to kill crops and cattle. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbjTWVaRx6jMN5ZYgbqe2_w
Till next time.