The U.S. House of Representatives has reintroduced a resolution,that proposes to officially recognize the actions of the Russian Federation against Ukraine during a full-scale war as genocide. This document is the first legislative initiative on Ukraine in the 119th Congress.
This was reported by Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Oksana Markarova.
The resolution was introduced by a bipartisan group of Congressmen, including Helsinki Commission Co-Chairs Steve Cohen (Democrat) and Joe Wilson (Republican), as well as members of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus.
The document details numerous crimes committed by the Russian Federation against Ukrainians, including deliberate attacks on civilians, attacks on medical facilities, and the forcible transfer of Ukrainians, including children, to the territory of the Russian Federation.
The preamble of the resolution emphasizes that these actions meet the criteria set forth in Article II of the UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide. The resolution condemns Russia's acts of genocide and calls on the United States, along with NATO and EU countries, to continue to support Ukraine to prevent future crimes. The document also supports international tribunals to punish Russian leaders and military personnel for aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
A draft of a similar resolution was introduced in the previous Congress in February 2023.
"We thank the Congressmen for introducing this important resolution! All crimes committed by the Russian Federation should be reflected in U.S. law to ensure that Russian criminals are punished and to prevent such heinous crimes in the future," Markarova stressed.
For your information: The General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine has already opened 170,090 cases of crimes related to Russian aggression and 151,698 cases of war crimes. In particular:
- Ukraine has officially registered 13,729 dead civilians and 26,706 wounded, including: 596 children killed, 1,728 children wounded.
- 4,057 criminal cases related to war crimes against children have been registered. Over 19,000 internally displaced Ukrainian children identified.
- 331 cases of conflict-related sexual violence were registered: 213 against women and 118 against men.
- Russian troops have destroyed and damaged 158,434 residential buildings, 3,739 educational and children's facilities, 908 medical facilities, 643 cultural facilities, 204 religious facilities, and 8,233 energy and communications facilities.
- Thousands of Ukrainians are held in Russian prisons. 16 thousand people are officially recognized as missing.
Author: Danylo Pievchev