CNN —
The International Criminal Court (ICC) plans to open two war crimes cases related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to issue arrest warrants for “multiple people,” according to the New York Times (NYT) and Portal, citing current and former officials of the decision, who were not authorized to comment publicly.
According to the NYT, the cases would represent the first international indictments since the beginning of the Russian war and come after months of work by special investigative teams at the ICC.
The first case the ICC will open concerns the alleged kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russia. The second concerns Russia’s “relentless” attacks on civilian infrastructure, including water supplies and gas tanks, according to the NYT.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s first step is to present his charges to a panel of coroners, who will decide whether legal standards for issuing warrants have been met or whether investigators need more evidence, the NYT reported.
In response to a request from CNN about NYT coverage, ICC prosecutors said they “have no comment on this report.”
The ICC Khan visited Ukraine last month to investigate Russia’s attacks on electricity and other infrastructure. Speaking to reporters during the visit, Khan said, “I think we’re clearly seeing a pattern in terms of the number, scale and breadth of attacks on Ukraine’s power grids. And we need to look at why this is happening; are they legitimate targets or not; and whether or not they are attacked for other reasons.”
“There seems to be a lot of damage in Ukraine and it may well be part of a policy and a plan and we need to get to the bottom of it and see whether there is criminal liability or not, we have an international Criminal Court which has jurisdiction to investigate this,” he added.
Asked whether the trial might be too slow to meet Ukrainians’ expectations, the chief prosecutor said: “What people want are not Pyrrhic victories.”
“As prosecutors, we are officials of the court. We’re not here to get applause with a magic trick. Whenever we move, (people) should have confidence that this is not a political process,” he continued.
Earlier this month, CNN reported on 15-year-old Arina Yatsiuk, one of 345 Ukrainian children who have disappeared since the Russian invasion in February 2022, according to official Ukrainian statistics.
The Ukrainian government says many of the missing children were forcibly taken to Russia. The Russian government does not deny taking in Ukrainian children and has made their adoption by Russian families a centerpiece of propaganda.
A senior Ukrainian official told CNN on Monday that they have been urging the ICC to issue arrest warrants against Russian individuals in connection with the war in Ukraine for some time.
“Ukraine has pushed for Russian officials implicated in war crimes to be prosecuted by the ICC up to and including (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, who is ultimately responsible,” the official said.