US Official Says Evidence Suggests ‘Systemic War Crimes’ by Russia in Ukraine Is ’New Nuremberg Moment’

A Russian soldier patrols in a street of Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 12, 2022. Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. State Department’s ambassador for global criminal justice said on Nov. 21 that Washington has seen “systemic war crimes” committed by Russian forces in Ukraine and called the current situation a “new Nuremberg moment.”

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack made the comments during a special briefing.

Van Schaack said that there’s growing evidence that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has been accompanied by systemic war crimes committed in every region where Russian forces have been deployed,” which she said includes “deliberate, indiscriminate, and disproportionate attacks against the civilian population and elements of the civilian infrastructure.”

She said the “aggression against Ukraine” is a manifest violation of the United Nations Charter, to which U.N. members are bound.

“We’re seeing custodial abuses of civilians and POWs and also efforts to cover up these crimes,” Van Schaack said.

The Nov. 21 press conference came shortly after the anniversary of the opening of the Nuremberg trials, the first international war crimes tribunal in history, under which former Nazi leaders were tried for war crimes after World War II.

The trials ran from 1945 to 1956 and saw more than 160 surviving German defendants convicted of war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity, while 37 were handed the death sentence.

The Nuremberg Trials, circa 1945. The Nazi industrialists were given a slap on the wrist at the trials, according to author David De Jong. Fotosearch/Getty Images

When asked if she believes there’s a possibility for any Russian individuals to be held accountable for their actions and the alleged atrocities committed in Ukraine, the ambassador said “this is definitely a new Nuremberg moment.”

“Just as the Allies at the end of the Second World War banded together to advance the imperative of justice and usher in a new era of accountability for what then was the worst imaginable crime, it now falls to all of us to ensure that those responsible for the war crimes and other atrocities that we’re seeing in Ukraine are held to account,” she said.

The ambassador also noted that it was hard to imagine how the crimes allegedly being committed could be done so without “responsibility going all the way up the chain of command.”

Report on POWs

Earlier in November, the United Nations said in a statement that prisoners of war from both Russia and Ukraine had told U.N. human rights investigators that they'd been tortured or subjected to various forms of sexual violence while held captive.

Russian POWs, held by Ukraine, claimed they had been subjected to kicks in the face and body after surrendering and were, in some cases, stabbed or electrocuted.

Ukrainian POWs held by Russia made similar claims.

On Nov. 21, Ukrainian officials said they'd investigate video footage that Moscow alleges shows Ukrainian military personnel killing captive Russian troops who may have been trying to surrender in the village of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region.

The video footage shows a group of roughly 10 men dressed in full military gear and wearing red bands on their lower legs—a marker worn by Russian and Russia-aligned troops.

Some of them lie face down on the ground while others emerge from a nearby building with their hands raised. They appear to be unarmed as they move to join the other soldiers on the ground.

A man wearing a yellow armband—typically worn by Ukrainian forces to identify themselves—appears to be filming the situation. At the last minute, a man emerges from behind the outbuilding and appears to be armed. Gunfire can then be heard before the video cuts off.

Two Russian soldiers patrol in the Mariupol drama theatre, which was bombed on March 16, in Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 12, 2022. Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images

‘They Must Be Found and Punished’

Separate drone footage appears to show the same Russian soldiers lying motionless and covered in blood.

The Epoch Times has been unable to verify the footage.

Russian officials claim the video footage shows Ukrainian forces shooting unarmed Russian prisoners of war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “There is no doubt that Russia itself will be looking for the perpetrators of this crime. They must be found and punished.”

However, Ukraine’s commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, claims that the captive Russian soldiers had opened fire on Ukrainians while they were surrendering, which resulted in the Ukrainian military personnel opening fire.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Olha Stefanishyna, told NBC News on Nov. 21 that Ukraine is investigating the matter. 

Van Schaack said on Nov. 21 that officials are also tracking the situation regarding the videos closely.

“It’s really important to emphasize that the laws of war apply to all parties equally, both the aggressor state and the defender state, and this is in equal measure,” Van Schaack said, although she stressed that when it comes to the war in Ukraine, “that’s really where the equivalency ends.”

“When we’re looking at the sheer scale of criminality exhibited by Russian forces, it’s enormous compared to the allegations that we have seen against Ukrainian forces,” she added while noting that Russia has responded to such allegations with “propaganda, denial, and disinformation” while Ukrainian authorities have “generally acknowledged abuses and have denounced them and have pledged to investigate them.”