International Criminal Court Opens Its Field Office in Kyiv

The field office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – the largest representation of this body outside The Hague – has started to work in the capital of Ukraine.

This was announced by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin during a briefing in which Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan took part, the PGO’s press service reports.

“This is a new chapter of our cooperation. The work of the office will help strengthen the interaction between Ukraine and the International Criminal Court. It will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of responding to the crimes that Russia continues to commit against Ukraine and Ukrainians every day,” Kostin emphasised.

He thanked Khan for the tremendous work carried out by the ICC and its Office to bring perpetrators of international crimes to justice.

Among the results of this work is the historic arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova, issued by the International Criminal Court almost six months ago. It was the result of five months of unprecedented cooperation between the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

“What we see in the issues of the ICC–Ukraine partnership, the development of partnership with civil society, with other UN member states, state and non-state participants in the ICC, is not just a spark. This is the dawn of a new time in which we must show, and we show, endurance and perseverance so that our words are not empty words. They are felt by the victims both in Ukraine, where I am honoured to be now, and all over the world,” Khan stressed.

It is also reported that more than 104,000 war crimes are currently registered in Ukraine, and their number is increasing daily.

Bohdan Marusyak