Britain has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of committing war crimes in Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. “What we have already seen from Vladimir Putin’s regime regarding the use of ordnance that they have already dropped on innocent civilians, in my view already fully meets the conditions of a war crime,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in the British House of Commons on Wednesday .
A government spokesman for Johnson added that it was formally a matter for international courts to settle the question of possible war crimes. The International Criminal Court in The Hague announced on Tuesday that it would conduct an investigation into the events in Ukraine.
According to Downing Street, Great Britain wants to persuade the UN General Assembly on Wednesday to issue the “strongest possible condemnation” of Russian action in Ukraine. Prime Minister Johnson promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in a telephone call, it said on Wednesday. “We want one clear message from the United Nations that the world abhors what it sees in Ukraine – the violence and baseless attack on a democratic country is totally unacceptable,” a government spokesman said. Johnson himself said in parliament that Great Britain would also do everything possible to enable Ukrainians to escape from the war.