Russia’s missile strikes on Ukrainian cities are war crimes and are not subject to a statute of limitations, presidents of the “Bucharest Nine” group who were joined by Montenegro and North Macedonia stated on Tuesday.
“We, the Presidents of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia condemn the mass bombardments of Ukrainian cities recently carried out by Russia, which constitute war crimes under international law.
We recall that war crimes and crimes against humanity are not subject to any statute of limitations and are covered by the jurisdiction of courts all over the world.
On behalf of our states, we demand that Russia immediately stop attacking civilian targets. We will not cease our efforts to bring to court persons responsible of today’s crimes.
We find any threats by Russian representatives to use nuclear weapons unacceptable. In this context, we reaffirm our commitment to protect our countries and allies.”
This statement comes after Russia’s unprecedented missile attack against Ukrainian cities and power infrastructure on 10 October which resulted in 19 people killed in 105 wounded. These attacks continued on 11 October as Russia targeted energy facilities throughout Ukraine. Ukraine’s air defense shot down approximately one-half of launched missiles and drones.
The Russian missile attacks against Ukraine were also condemned as war crimes by the EU.
“What is happening is sickening this indiscriminate attack on children, the people going by their daily lives, going to school civilians being killed … is absolutely reprehensible,” the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, told Euronews.
“For me, I will repeat what I’ve always said, appeasement has never worked and appeasement will never work. These are war crimes and the response has to be proportionate.”
The spokesperson for the European Commission, Peter Stano, also claimed that the strikes “amount to a war crime” and said that Russia’s political and military leadership would be held accountable for them and other violations of international humanitarian law.
“They are barbaric and cowardly attacks… targeting innocent civilians on their way to work and school in the morning traffic,” he told the Commission’s daily news briefing.
