Oleksandr Lytvynenko: Ukraine needs a robust legal basis to bring russia to justice for its crimes

Ukraine needs a robust legal basis to form an evidence base of international crimes committed by the russian federation in order to present evidence to the international court of justice. This was emphasised by Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Lytvynenko during a meeting to discuss problematic issues of forming an evidence base for international crimes committed by russia.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, intelligence agencies, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigation and others.

Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Serhii Demediuk underlined that Ukraine should take proactive measures: systematically collect and document evidence of russia's barbaric aggression to prepare for new trials in the International Court of Justice.

"We must document all the evidence of the russian federation's terrorist activities both on the territory of our country and abroad. This work should be carried out systematically and in a coordinated manner. If we do not pay sufficient attention thereto, we will have a negative result. As practice shows, European countries are in no hurry to clearly identify and qualify russia's illegal actions on their territory. Especially with the participation of Ukrainians", - said Serhii Demediuk.

During the meeting, the participants highlighted the main problematic issues of documenting war crimes committed by the russian federation on the territory of Ukraine, the temporarily occupied territories of our country and abroad, proposed to establish an interagency working group to exchange information and evidence, as well as to coordinate measures to form an irrefutable evidence base of international crimes committed by the russian federation for its timely submission to the International Court of Justice.