Russian troops deliberately used starvation against civilians as a military strategy during the 85-day siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, international legal experts claim in a report published today, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The international human rights organization "Global Rights Compliance" (Global Rights Compliance), whose experts also assist Ukraine's attorney general, said Russian forces have "systematically attacked means necessary for the survival of the civilian population," such as food, water, energy and access to health services. At the same time, Russian troops cut off evacuation routes and blocked the access of humanitarian aid, the text says.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a written request for comment. Moscow denies that Russian troops have carried out attacks against the civilian population in Ukraine, Reuters recalls.
Mariupol became a byword for terror during the nearly three-month, between March and May 2022, Russian siege of the strategic port city. A large number of civilians were trapped in the fighting and were forced to bury the bodies of the dead by the roadside, Reuters notes.
The use of starvation against civilians "by depriving them of means necessary for their survival" as a military tactic, is defined as a war crime under the Rome Statute - the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court.
In this definition, hunger does not only refer to food, Olga Mitskov, Ukrainian legal adviser at "Global Rights Compliance", commented to Reuters.
"It is about everything a person needs to survive,", she explained, and gave the example that heating, water and the availability of health care can also be means necessary for survival.
To prepare their report, the human rights organization's legal experts worked with defense intelligence experts and researchers, using a vast array of publicly available information to analyze satellite photos and images, as well as testimony from eyewitnesses and representatives of authorities during the siege of Mariupol.
According to Matskov, the report shows that in addition to the casualties from the intense fighting, a much larger number of people in Mariupol died due to lack of food, water or heating after Russian troops attacked food distribution points, energy infrastructure, water supply installations and medical centers.
"We encountered horrific cases where elderly people died in their own apartments from lack of water or because they were cold because there was no heating in Mariupol," she said.
Yurii Belousov, head of the war crimes department at the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, said in a statement that the incidents covered in the Mariupol report are part of the ongoing cases of the national prosecution.
The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over cases involving the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide if the acts were committed on the territory of Ukraine. So far, the court has issued four arrest warrants related to similar ones in Ukraine, including against Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the deportation of Ukrainian children, notes Reuters.