Ukraine’s top prosecutor calls for Russia’s prosecution by International Criminal Court over attack on children’s hospital
- ‘For the sake of international justice, cases like the intentional attack on the biggest child hospital in Kyiv (are) worth lifting to the ICC’
Ukraine’s top prosecutor has called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute Russia over a missile strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv earlier this week.
Ukraine’s capital suffered on Monday one of its worst days of air strikes since the start of Russia’s war, with attacks across the country killing at least 44 people including two adults at Okhmatdyt children’s hospital, Ukrainian officials have said.
“For the sake of international justice, cases like the intentional attack on the biggest child hospital in Kyiv (are) worth lifting to the ICC,” Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said in an interview in The Hague, where the ICC is based.
Kostin, in The Hague for regular meetings with legal officials, said on Thursday that if the ICC took on the prosecution of the hospital strike, it could help establish a pattern of attacks that show Russia is committing crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
The governing body of the UN’s nuclear watchdog passed a resolution on Friday, expressing “serious concern” over the strike which has sparked international condemnation, with Kyiv requesting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) hold an emergency meeting.
The hospital receives technical cooperation support from the IAEA to treat cancer patients, including through a radiology centre.