International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Friday that a "broad range" of war crimes were committed in the Ukraine since 2014, as she pushed for a full investigation.
Hague-based ICC prosecutors launched a preliminary probe in 2015 after Kiev gave it the green light to look into alleged crimes committed during the pro-EU Maidan demonstrations, which came to a head in February 2014 when pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovic was ousted.
Ukraine, which is not an ICC member state, later also gave Bensouda permission to broaden her scope and go beyond February 2014 to include the deadly conflict that has since wracked the country's east.
Bensouda said her initial probe had now finished.
"My office has concluded that there is a reasonable basis at this time to believe that a broad range of conduct constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the court have been committed in the context of the situation in Ukraine," Bensouda said.
ICC investigators "furthermore found that these crimes, committed by the different parties to the conflict, were also sufficiently grave to warrant investigation by my office," she said in a statement.
Bensouda said the next step would be to ask judges at the ICC, set up in 2002 to probe the world's worst crimes, permission to open a full-blown probe.
"Having examined the information available... my office has concluded that the potential cases that would likely arise from an investigation into the situation in Ukraine would be admissible," before the ICC, she said.
- 'Inevitable justice' -
Kiev welcomed the move on Friday, saying the ICC's prosecutors had "announced a historic decision".
"International justice may not be served fast, but it is surely inevitable," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.
Thousands have been killed since pro-Russia militias in eastern Ukraine launched a bid for independence in 2014, kicking off a conflict that deepened Russia's estrangement from the West.
This included the 298 victims -- mainly Dutch -- who died when Malaysia Airlines MH17 was blasted out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
Dutch prosecutors say the missile was fired from territory held by pro-Moscow separatists, who were supplied by Russia.
Moscow however, has vigorously denied any involvement.
It was unclear whether the downing of MH17 would form part of the ICC's investigation, as a Dutch court in March began hearing a case against four suspects, three of them Russian and one Ukrainian.
Kiev's ongoing war with separatists has claimed around 13,000 lives and displaced 1.5 million others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky agreed last December to a series of measures to relaunch a peace process in Ukraine.
Bensouda's announcement followed her earlier statement in which the Gambian-born prosecutor said she would also ask judges to give her office the go-ahead for a full probe into ongoing violence in Nigeria.
International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Friday that a “broad range” of war crimes were committed in the Ukraine since 2014, as she pushed for a full investigation.
Hague-based ICC prosecutors launched a preliminary probe in 2015 after Kiev gave it the green light to look into alleged crimes committed during the pro-EU Maidan demonstrations, which came to a head in February 2014 when pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovic was ousted.
Ukraine, which is not an ICC member state, later also gave Bensouda permission to broaden her scope and go beyond February 2014 to include the deadly conflict that has since wracked the country’s east.
Bensouda said her initial probe had now finished.
“My office has concluded that there is a reasonable basis at this time to believe that a broad range of conduct constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the court have been committed in the context of the situation in Ukraine,” Bensouda said.
ICC investigators “furthermore found that these crimes, committed by the different parties to the conflict, were also sufficiently grave to warrant investigation by my office,” she said in a statement.
Bensouda said the next step would be to ask judges at the ICC, set up in 2002 to probe the world’s worst crimes, permission to open a full-blown probe.
“Having examined the information available… my office has concluded that the potential cases that would likely arise from an investigation into the situation in Ukraine would be admissible,” before the ICC, she said.
– ‘Inevitable justice’ –
Kiev welcomed the move on Friday, saying the ICC’s prosecutors had “announced a historic decision”.
“International justice may not be served fast, but it is surely inevitable,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.
Thousands have been killed since pro-Russia militias in eastern Ukraine launched a bid for independence in 2014, kicking off a conflict that deepened Russia’s estrangement from the West.
This included the 298 victims — mainly Dutch — who died when Malaysia Airlines MH17 was blasted out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
Dutch prosecutors say the missile was fired from territory held by pro-Moscow separatists, who were supplied by Russia.
Moscow however, has vigorously denied any involvement.
It was unclear whether the downing of MH17 would form part of the ICC’s investigation, as a Dutch court in March began hearing a case against four suspects, three of them Russian and one Ukrainian.
Kiev’s ongoing war with separatists has claimed around 13,000 lives and displaced 1.5 million others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky agreed last December to a series of measures to relaunch a peace process in Ukraine.
Bensouda’s announcement followed her earlier statement in which the Gambian-born prosecutor said she would also ask judges to give her office the go-ahead for a full probe into ongoing violence in Nigeria.
