Ukraine To Sign Off on Special Tribunal for Senior Russian Officials 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved the creation of a new special international tribunal on Wednesday, a court that would prosecute senior Russian officials for their involvement in the invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press reported. 

The tribunal, to be set up through an agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe – the continent’s top human rights body – aims to try senior Russian leaders for the “crime of aggression,” a charge which underpins all the war crimes Ukraine has accused Russia of committing since the start of the conflict in early 2022. 

Existing international courts, including the International Criminal Court in The Hague, don’t have the jurisdiction to prosecute Russian nationals for that specific offense.  

Since the early stages of the conflict, Ukraine has advocated for the establishment of a dedicated tribunal that goes beyond prosecuting war crimes that Ukraine alleges Russian forces have committed such as the killing of civilians, rape, and torture. Russia denies those claims. 

The new court will face hurdles in attempting to try Russians, however: One, for example, would be that Russia does not extradite its own citizens. Another is that sitting heads of state and some top officials generally hold immunity from prosecution while they are in office, according to international law. 

The court would be funded by supporting countries known as the Core Group, including the Netherlands, Japan, and Canada. The US under the Biden administration backed the idea but not under the Trump administration. 

The move to set up the tribunal comes as Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine over the past month.  

On Tuesday, Russia attacked the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine, killing at least 19 people and wounding over 300. Russian forces claimed to have reached the border of the region, gaining ground there for the first time since the start of the war, the Guardian wrote. 

Meanwhile, Russian air defense units shot down dozens of Ukrainian drones across various regions, including over 40 in the Voronezh region on the Ukrainian border, according to Al Jazeera. 

Zelenskyy wrote on X that Russia and Ukraine are not getting closer to a ceasefire because “Russia wants to wage war.”