crimes against humanity Archives - Boston Human Rights

Summary

More than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, UN bodies, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and human rights groups continue to document serious violations. This report sets out what they have found, who said it, and what remains an allegation rather than a verdict. Russia denies the accusations, and its officials have rejected the ICC’s authority.

Civilian toll: the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) verified 2,222 civilians killed and 13,058 injured from January to August 2026, more than in all of 2025.
Children: the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded in March 2026 that Russia committed crimes against humanity by deporting and forcibly transferring Ukrainian children and by their enforced disappearance.
Courts: ICC arrest warrants name Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin. They are allegations, not convictions, and we found no report of any suspect in ICC custody. A Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression has been agreed but is not yet operating.
Both sides: UN monitors also document violations by Ukrainian forces, including 11 per cent of the sexual violence cases they counted.

What investigators have documented

Civilian harm. HRMMU says at least 372 civilians were killed and 2,349 injured in Ukraine in August. It adds that Russian authorities reported 113 killed and 736 injured inside Russia, which it could not verify for lack of independent access. HRMMU’s preliminary count for 1 to 24 September is at least 200 killed and 1,234 injured. Human Rights Watch (HRW) puts the toll since February 2022 at no fewer than 16,874 civilians killed. In a report to the General Assembly, the Commission of Inquiry concluded that Russian short-range drone attacks on civilians in the Dnipro River area, launched from the river’s left bank, amount to the crime against humanity of murder and to war crimes.

Bucha and Mariupol. In December 2022 the UN Human Rights Office documented the killing of 73 civilians in Bucha while Russian troops held the town (5–30 March 2022) and was corroborating 105 more. It said there were “strong indications” that summary executions it examined may constitute the war crime of wilful killing. The BBC reported that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the footage “staged”, but a satellite image from 19 March, when Russia controlled the town, appeared to show bodies where bodies were later found. On 2 October 2026 Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said it had completed an investigation into three Russian soldiers accused of ordering a killing and of rape. Those are Ukrainian allegations awaiting trial. On the Mariupol theatre, an Associated Press investigation estimated about 600 dead in the March 2022 airstrike, while saying an exact toll is impossible. AP’s witnesses contradicted Russian claims that Ukrainian forces destroyed the building. Amnesty International called the strike “a clear war crime”.

Prisoners of war and torture. HRMMU’s June 2026 report says Russian forces executed at least 16 captured Ukrainian servicemen between mid-November 2025 and January 2026, and that the UN has verified 129 executions of Ukrainian prisoners and others out of combat since 2022. Nearly all repatriated Ukrainian prisoners interviewed described torture or ill-treatment. More than half of the Russian prisoners interviewed said Ukrainian forces ill-treated them, mostly during capture and transit. Kyiv says it has opened 116 investigations into the killings of 306 servicemen, and the Guardian reported that Moscow rejects the accusations. The Commission of Inquiry has found that Russian torture of civilians and prisoners amounts to a crime against humanity. At Olenivka in July 2022, at least 50 Ukrainian prisoners died. Russia blamed Ukrainian rockets. The UN Human Rights Office concluded the explosions were not caused by HIMARS rockets but could not identify the weapon, and Russia denied UN monitors access.

Sexual violence. On 18 September the UN Human Rights Office reported 1,004 documented cases between February 2022 and July 2026. It attributed 89 per cent to Russian authorities and 11 per cent to Ukrainian authorities. Most victims were men in detention, and women and children were affected mainly in occupied territory.

Energy, health care and occupied areas. HRMMU counted at least 423 Russian attacks on electricity facilities and 74 on heating infrastructure between October 2025 and March 2026. It also noted a Ukrainian strike on a power plant in Russia’s Belgorod region. Amnesty International said Ukraine lost more than half of its energy-producing capacity during the winter. The World Health Organization has verified 3,205 attacks on health care since the invasion. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), quoted by the BBC, says Russia systematically and often deliberately targets medical facilities. In occupied areas, HRW documented coerced “filtration” screening and forced transfers in 2022, and HRMMU reports continuing arbitrary detention and forced military-patriotic classes.

Children. The Commission found that Russian authorities committed crimes against humanity involving 1,205 verified children, 80 per cent of whom had not returned, and that Moscow never answered its 39 written requests. Russia has described such transfers as humanitarian evacuations. Ukraine says up to 20,000 children were taken and about 2,000 returned, as RFE/RL reported. A Yale Humanitarian Research Lab report alleges, using open-source evidence, that Gazprom and Rosneft facilitated the transport or re-education of at least 2,158 children.

Accountability and the courts

ICC. On 17 March 2023 judges found reasonable grounds to believe Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova are responsible for the war crimes of unlawfully deporting and transferring children. In June 2024 they issued warrants for Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov over strikes on electricity infrastructure, alleging war crimes and the crime against humanity of inhumane acts. These findings are allegations at the arrest-warrant stage. Reuters reported in December 2025 that ICC deputy prosecutors said the warrants would stand even if a peace deal included amnesty. In March 2026 judges found that Tajikistan failed to arrest Putin and referred it to the Assembly of States Parties. In June they ruled that a state cannot unilaterally waive an arrest request, and that only a UN Security Council deferral can suspend proceedings, though it may weigh UN Charter obligations if the UN itself convenes peace talks. The Kremlin has called the warrants “null and void”, and UN experts condemned Moscow court convictions in absentia of the ICC prosecutor and judges.

Special Tribunal. Because of limits on the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, the Council of Europe and Ukraine signed an agreement in June 2025 for a separate tribunal. On 15 May 2026, 36 states and the EU adopted an enlarged partial agreement to manage and fund it. Entry into force is still pending, and the Council says practical work depends on financing. The Netherlands has reaffirmed its willingness to host it.

Ukrainian courts. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on 8 May that Ukraine had recorded over 256,000 aggression-related crimes, including 225,000 war crimes, with 1,191 suspects notified and 254 convictions. These are Ukrainian official figures that we could not independently verify.

The latest

2 October: UN human rights chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council the war is a “human rights catastrophe”. His office has verified about 15,280 civilians killed and injured this year, and he urged confidence-building steps toward negotiations.
24 September: HRMMU reported that civilian casualties occurred in Kyiv on 16 of the first 24 days of September, a frequency it says is unmatched in any month since the invasion.
21–22 September: the Commission of Inquiry warned that attacks on energy infrastructure leave civilians more exposed before winter. It also reported on military education in occupied areas and the deceptive recruitment of foreign fighters. A fuller report is due at the UN General Assembly in October.
18 September: the UN published its sexual violence report.

What it means / why it matters

Terms carry weight. “Documented” or “verified” refers to UN monitors’ own findings. “Concluded” is how the Commission of Inquiry states its legal assessments. “Reasonable grounds” is the ICC’s arrest-warrant standard. A conviction requires a trial. Several sources stress limits: no access to occupied territory or Russia, and figures that are minimums. Those standards apply to every party. The UN Human Rights Office attributes some sexual violence to Ukrainian authorities, and the Commission {a(COI_MAR,’documented violations’)} in Ukraine’s mobilisation. Meanwhile, UN monitors and the Commission warn that this winter could be harder than the last.

What you can do in Boston

Read our take action page for ways to get involved. If you would like to volunteer, email contact@bostonhumanrights.org with a few lines about your interests and skills. Spotted an error or a better source? Write to the same address.

Tag: crimes against humanity

Russian war crimes in Ukraine: what the UN, the ICC and rights groups have documented (2 October 2026)