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The British Minister of the Armed Forces, James Heappey, has no doubts: the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol by Russian forces is a war crime.
“A heinous crime, and even if it had no definite target, it would still be a war crime,” said Heappey, who emphasized that it was the responsibility of the international community to ensure that evidence was gathered so that “When the time comes, and I promise you that it will come, there will be an opportunity for these people to appear before the international criminal court,” he added.
Bombing has been widely condemned; UN Secretary-General António Guterres described it as a horrific act as the United States accused Russia of “barbaric use of military force to pursue innocent civilians”. But Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said the bombed hospital had been “turned into a military facility by Ukrainian radicals.” Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has called for a “new model” of efforts to investigate alleged war crimes in Ukraine, saying a Special Court should be set up for the “unprecedented” crisis. She said 39 countries have joined Ukraine’s appeal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Russia. Russia’s attack on a nuclear power plant, the suspected use of cluster bombs and so-called vacuum bombs in densely populated areas, and the targeting of hospitals, schools and civilian areas are all being described as war crimes.
The Russian occupation of Ukraine began on February 24, and since then hundreds of Ukrainians and about 6,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, according to data provided by the US. Despite numerous political and economic sanctions, official Moscow has not stopped military attacks in Ukraine by attacking residential areas, schools and hospitals. Today, 7 new humanitarian corridors will be opened to help civilians in the cities surrounded by Moscow forces to leave, including Mariupol. Evacuations have already started from Sumej.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, 35,000 people have been rescued so far through humanitarian corridors set up on Wednesday. The White House warned the day before that Russia was becoming increasingly frustrated by the fact that the invasion did not go as planned, and according to spokeswoman Jen Psaki, Moscow could use chemical attacks on civilians in the coming days.
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