President Vladimir Putin and other high-ranking Russian political and military leaders should face a special tribunal for war crimes committed, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday.
Creation of the tribunal is necessary because existing international institutions face structural obstacles in investigating the crime of aggression, Kuleba said.
"I will make it extremely clear – Ukraine accuses Russia of committing the crime of aggression," he said in a speech at the Ukraine Accountability Conference. "Together with other states, organizations and institutions, we will use all available tools to achieve justice for the thousands of innocent victims of these crimes, and we will not rest until the perpetrators are brought to justice."
Other virtual speakers include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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Latest developments
► In a statement Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Moscow to halt forced deportations in areas of Ukraine controlled by Russia, saying an estimated 900,000 to 1.6 million Ukrainians have been “interrogated, detained, and forcibly deported” to Russia.
Most Ukrainian refugees plan on returning
The majority of Ukrainians who fled the war to other countries plan to return, but around two-thirds said they plan to stay in their host countries until hostilities subside, according to a new survey by the United Nation's refugee agency.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees surveyed nearly 5,000 refugees now living in the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia between May and June.
About 16% said they plan to return to Ukraine within the next two months, a fraction of whom said they were planning to go temporarily to see family, get supplies or help loved ones evacuate.
"One thing that nearly all participants had in common was a shared uncertainty about the future, which prevented them from making long-term plans," the UNHCR said in its report.
UN calls Russia-Ukraine meeting on grain crisis 'a critical step forward'
The United Nations chief said a Wednesday meeting in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine took “a critical step forward” in addressing the blocked export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “more technical work will now be needed” to reach an agreement, “but the momentum is clear … I’m encouraged, but it’s not yet fully done.”
The Russian blockage of millions of tons of grain from being exported from Ukraine has led to food shortages in Africa and Asia. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn, and sunflower oil.
The negotiations Wednesday led to agreements that include establishing a coordination center in Istanbul, "joint control" of exit and arrival points and the maintained safety of transfer routes, according to a statement from Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.
Speaking to The Associated Press ahead of the talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said any agreement needs to ensure Russia "will respect these corridors, they will not sneak into the harbor and attack ports or that they will not attack ports from the air with their missiles."
Contributing: The Associated Press
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