Since the full-scale invasion started, the SSU has initiated pre-trial investigations in almost 92,000 criminal proceedings related to russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. Of these, about 43,000 cases are ongoing investigations related to russia’s violations of laws and customs of war.

The SSU Head Vasyl Maliuk briefed about this during the meeting of the Interdepartmental Working Group on Cooperation between Law Enforcement and Government Agencies held at the Prosecutor General’s Office.

He underscored the importance of the investigation of russia’s crimes both for Ukrainians and for the world.

‘Today, the SSU is investigating almost 43,000 proceedings under Article 438 - violation of laws and customs of war. And we don’t just record these crimes - we carry out all necessary procedural actions within the Ukrainian legislation in order to sooner or later bring all russian criminals to justice,’ the SSU Head informed.

Primarily, this pertains to russia’s top military and political leadership and army command.

According to Vasyl Maliuk, 448 war criminals from this category of russian officials have been served suspicion notices, including more than 25 commanders of separate army branches and armies.

Specific perpetrators of crimes are being identified. For example, the commander of a heavy bomber regiment, colonel Timoshin, has been notified of suspicion. SSU investigators established that he is responsible for the missile strikes on a residential building in Dnipro in January 2023 and on Amstor shopping centre in Kremenchuk in June 2022.

In total, 95 criminal proceedings against 142 members of russia’s military and political leadership have been sent to court, of which 22 have already been convicted.

‘The decision of the International Criminal Court to arrest putin and lvova-belova is just the beginning. We have to present a strong evidence base in order to go all the way,’ Vasyl Maliuk emphasized.

The SSU Head added that international entities are also involved in this work, investigating both individual cases and the ‘main’ proceeding on russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

The SSU itself is applying modern approaches to documenting russian war crimes. These include not only crime scene examinations, but also open source analysis, use of software products, and systemic interaction with the military and the Prosecutor General’s Office.

‘The SSU is unifying the work on collecting and analysing data in order not to overlook any piece of evidence. Missile fragments, intercepted conversations, satellite images and ‘trophy documentation’ - everything goes into our evidence box,’ Vasyl Maliuk pointed out.