Laying mines in the occupied territories should be considered a war crime - Zelenskyy

Tuesday, 11 April 2022, 00:10

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that the mass laying of mines in territories occupied by Russian troops  should be treated as a war crime.

Source: Presidential address

Quote: "Because of the actions of the Russian army, our territory is currently one of the most mine-contaminated in the world. And I believe this should also be regarded as a war crime perpetrated by the Russian troops.

They have deliberately done everything to kill or maim as many of our people as possible, even when they were forced to retreat from our land. They would not have done this without the appropriate orders."

Details: Zelenskyy noted that mine clearance is underway in the northern regions of Ukraine liberated from the occupying forces. According to him, Russian troops have left behind tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dangerous items, with at least several thousand such items being neutralised daily.

"The occupiers have left mines everywhere: in the houses they seized, right on the streets, and in the fields. They mined people's property, mined cars, mined doors. They have deliberately done everything to make the return to these areas after de-occupation as dangerous as possible," he said.

The President also said that he had met with an expert group working on the creation of a special mechanism for pre-trial investigation and trial of all war crimes committed by the occupiers.

"We are working on a legal way to bring the aggressors to justice, which will be as effective and as fast as possible. So as not to wait for decades until all international legal procedures are completed, but to speed up justice. I expect that the options for creating such a special mechanism will be presented in the near future," said Zelenskyy.