{"id":37126,"date":"2025-12-03T13:51:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T10:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/?p=37126"},"modified":"2026-03-16T17:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:36:10","slug":"war-crimes-committed-by-russia-against-ukraine-ua-and-eu-experts-discussed-joint-work-towards-truth-and-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/breaking-news\/war-crimes-committed-by-russia-against-ukraine-ua-and-eu-experts-discussed-joint-work-towards-truth-and-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"War crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine: UA and EU experts discussed joint work towards truth and justice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-37130 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-650x366.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-650x366.jpeg 650w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-2048x1152.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-220x124.jpeg 220w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-250x141.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-550x309.jpeg 550w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-800x450.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-320x180.jpeg 320w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-533x300.jpeg 533w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_1189-889x500.jpeg 889w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>An expert discussion &#8220;War crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine: Joint work of human rights organizations towards truth and justice&#8221; took place on 1 December 2025 in Brussels. The event gathered diplomats, members of the European Parliament, human rights defenders and representatives of international organizations. It marked the kick of the project (funded by the EU) and showed the results of human rights cooperation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The discussion was organised by\u00a0<em>Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group<\/em>, <em>Center for Civil Liberties<\/em>, <em>Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial &#8211; Brussels<\/em>, <em>the Mission of Ukraine to the EU<\/em> and <em>the Mission of Norway to the EU<\/em>, and\u00a0moderated by\u00a0<strong>Thijs Reuten, <\/strong>Member of the European Parliament (S&amp;D, Netherlands)<strong>. <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/library.khpg.org\/files\/doc\/1738165380.pdf\">The\u00a0war-crimes documentation work<\/a> was presented, as well as interventions by\u00a0<strong>Wayne Jordash<\/strong>, Director of Global Rights Compliance Foundation, and\u00a0<strong>Marta Wytrykowska<\/strong>, Deputy Head of Ukraine Division at the European External Action Service.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Live Stream of the event in Brussels \u201cWar crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine&quot;\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G_wKafT3xOU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Presentation of the Report: Torture of Ukrainian Prisoners of War<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Mr. Mykhailo Romanov<\/strong>, expert of the\u00a0Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG)\u00a0 presented <a href=\"https:\/\/library.khpg.org\/files\/doc\/1738165380.pdf\">key findings documenting<\/a> torture, inhuman treatment and unlawful detention of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian prisons. He emphasized that the KHPG database had already documented nearly\u00a0<strong>99,000 incidents<\/strong>\u00a0of international crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and elements of genocide. According to the report, Ukrainian POWs are held in at least\u00a0<strong>121 detention facilities in the Russian Federation<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>15 facilities in temporarily occupied territories<\/strong>.\u00a0Mr. Romanov stressed that torture was\u00a0<strong>systematic and widespread<\/strong>, affecting all detainees without exception:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Torture is used against everyone, without exception, throughout the entire cycle of detention. These are not isolated acts, but elements of the system.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>KHPG&#8217;s work combines documentation, interviews with victims, verification of evidence, legal qualification of crimes, and support to survivors.<\/p>\n<h3>\u00a0<strong>Testimony of Former Prisoner of War Maksym Butkevych<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Human rights defender and former prisoner of war\u00a0<strong>Mr. Maksym Butkevych<\/strong>, laureate of the\u00a0V\u00e1clav Havel Human Rights Prize 2025, spoke next. Reflecting on the report, he said its findings &#8220;contain nothing surprising&#8221; to those who survived Russia&#8217;s detention system. He noted that many detainees were subjected to forced confessions used for propaganda purposes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Russian propaganda needed &#8216;Ukrainian war criminals&#8217;. They had none, so they extracted confessions under torture.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Maksim Butkevych stressed that independent international monitoring of detention facilities remains critically absent, enabling systematic abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Torture, intimidation and fabricated charges were used systematically. The atmosphere of constant fear was the defining feature of captivity,&#8221; Mr. Butkevych stated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He also underlined the urgent need for\u00a0<strong>international pressure for the release of all prisoners of war and civilian hostages<\/strong>, stressing that exchange and return must be treated as a\u00a0<strong>precondition<\/strong>, not a by-product, of any negotiations.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Intervention of Stephania Kulaeva, ADC Memorial Brussels<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Stephania Kulaeva,<\/strong> expert of\u00a0ADC &#8220;Memorial-Brussels&#8221;, drew attention to the enormous\u00a0impact of Russia&#8217;s aggression on vulnerable groups. She presented cases involving\u00a0children and minorities, including abductions, sexual violence, militarization and forced ideological influence in occupied territories.<\/p>\n<p>Stefania underlined:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The suffering of children on the occupied territories, including such cases as using children as hostages, sexualised violence and exploitation by Russian military, using children for war\u00a0purposes, still receives insufficient international attention. These crimes must be documented and prosecuted along with all other violations.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>ADC Memorial continues to document violations against children, Roma communities and other groups exposed to heightened risks in occupied territories. Was shown <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/LohHjOj17Hk\">the video<\/a> artistically presenting documented case of the Romani family with many children, they faced war crimes in the time of occupation in Kherson Province.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pkhabaj. A Roma woman who survived the Russian occupation in the Kherson region\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LohHjOj17Hk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Broader discussion: accountability, sanctions and the role of civil society<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>During the panel,\u00a0<strong>Mr. Wayne Jordash<\/strong>\u00a0underlined the essential role of Ukrainian civil society organizations in gathering evidence of international crimes, noting that the scale of violations far exceeded the capacity of state institutions alone, he called everybody&#8217;s attention to the report of KhHRPG as an important source of evidence of the torture used against POWs and civic hostages captured by Russia.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ms. Marta Wytrykowska<\/strong>\u00a0spoke about the EU&#8217;s continued commitment to accountability, such as support for the creation of a\u00a0<strong>special tribunal for the crime of aggression<\/strong>, the development of a\u00a0<strong>claims commission<\/strong>, and the extension of\u00a0<strong>targeted sanctions<\/strong>\u00a0against individuals involved in torture and unlawful detention of Ukrainian POWs.<\/p>\n<p>The discussion reaffirmed the shared determination of Ukrainian and international human rights organizations to pursue justice for victims of Russia&#8217;s war crimes and to ensure that these crimes remain visible to the international community.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div>\n<div><em>The publication is created in the framework of the project \u201cDocumenting and analysing international crimes committed by the Russia\u2019s armed forces after 24.02.2022, helping victims of these crimes and informing on crimes\u201d implemented by Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Center for Civil Liberties and ADC Memorial Brussels, funded by the European Union.<\/em><\/div>\n<div><em>Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the contracting authority can be held responsible for them.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-36993 size-wcfixedheightsmall\" src=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-178x180.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"178\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-178x180.png 178w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-296x300.png 296w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-493x500.png 493w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-125x125.png 125w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-768x778.png 768w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-220x223.png 220w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-48x48.png 48w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-250x253.png 250w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-550x557.png 550w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos-800x811.png 800w, https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/en_fundedbyeu_vertical_rgb_pos.png 910w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 178px) 100vw, 178px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An expert discussion &#8220;War crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine: Joint work of human rights organizations towards truth and justice&#8221; took place on 1 December 2025 in Brussels. The event gathered diplomats, members of the European Parliament, human rights defenders&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[594],"strategy_cases":[],"campaign":[657],"archive":[],"filter-content":[],"regions":[515,436],"class_list":["post-37126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-eu","campaign-crossborderchildhoodua-news-en","regions-russia","regions-ukraine"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735.jpg",2517,1766,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-125x125.jpg",125,125,true],"medium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-300x210.jpg",300,210,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-768x539.jpg",640,449,true],"large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-650x456.jpg",640,449,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-1536x1078.jpg",1536,1078,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-2048x1437.jpg",2048,1437,true],"pub-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-220x154.jpg",220,154,true],"post-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-170x170.jpg",170,170,true],"wcicon":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"wcsquare":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"wcsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-250x175.jpg",250,175,true],"wcstandard":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-550x386.jpg",550,386,true],"wcbig":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-800x561.jpg",800,561,true],"wcfixedheightsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-257x180.jpg",257,180,true],"wcfixedheightmedium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-428x300.jpg",428,300,true],"wcfixedheight":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-713x500.jpg",713,500,true],"wccarouselsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-210x150.jpg",210,150,true],"wccarousel":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-400x285.jpg",400,285,true],"wcslider":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20251201_112917_hdr-scaled-e1764758758735-1100x500.jpg",1100,500,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"<p>An expert discussion &#8220;War crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine: Joint work of human rights organizations towards truth and justice&#8221; took place on 1 December 2025 in Brussels. The event gathered diplomats, members of the European Parliament, human rights defenders and representatives of international organizations. It marked the kick of the project (funded by the EU) and showed the results of human rights cooperation. The discussion was organised by\u00a0Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Center for Civil Liberties, Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial &#8211; Brussels, the Mission of Ukraine to the EU and the Mission of Norway to the EU, and\u00a0moderated by\u00a0Thijs Reuten,&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"<a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/category\/news\/breaking-news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Breaking news<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"admin3","url":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/author\/admin3\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37126"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37187,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126\/revisions\/37187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37126"},{"taxonomy":"strategy_cases","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/strategy_cases?post=37126"},{"taxonomy":"campaign","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaign?post=37126"},{"taxonomy":"archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archive?post=37126"},{"taxonomy":"filter-content","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/filter-content?post=37126"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=37126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}