The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two of Russia’s top military commanders for suspected war crimes committed in Ukraine.
The group of judges found reasonable grounds to believe that Russian commanders Sergei Kobylash and Viktor Sokolov were responsible for “missile strikes carried out by the forces under their command against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023.”
Specifically, the ICC found they bear individual criminal responsibility for three times: the war crime of directing attacks against civilian objects, the war crime of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects, and the crime against humanity of acts under the Rome Statute, the international treaty that founded the ICC.
The ICC had not charged any Russian official with crimes against humanity before Kobylash and Sokolov, which is a graver category of crimes. They were charged with crimes against humanity, the ICC said, due to the “alleged campaign of strikes” against the civilian population “pursuant to a state policy.”
“For those installations that may have qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, the expected incidental civilian harm and damage would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage,” Karim Khan, ICC prosecutor, said.
This is only the second time the ICC has announced arrest warrants in connection with conduct in the war in Ukraine.
In March 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, whom they said were responsible for the forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.
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“I have repeatedly emphasized that those responsible for actions that impact innocent civilians or protected objects must know that this conduct is bound by a set of rules reflected in international humanitarian law. All wars have rules. Those rules bind all without exception,” Khan added. “As I have made clear, these laws cannot be interpreted so as to render them devoid of meaning. This applies to the Situation in Ukraine and applies with equal vigour in all Situations for which my Office has jurisdiction.”
The ICC was created more than two decades ago to investigate war crimes, claims of genocide, and crimes against humanity. The United States, Russia, and Ukraine are not among them, though Ukraine has granted it jurisdiction over its territory.