Mass graves, mass destruction: Justice must be served for the merciless war of aggression in Ukraine

Editorial: It will be for the international authorities to determine what exactly took place – and who should be charged

One day, if he is still around, Vladimir Putin may well find himself on a charge sheet (Reuters)

Mass graves, mass destruction, mass violation of human rights, and torture. The only surprise for the liberators of the Ukrainian city of Izyum is that the destruction and the pain inflicted on civilians wasn’t even worse.

Like Bucha, Mariupol and many other places large and small, the Russians and their mercenary Chechen allies showed no mercy. They committed war crimes – and once again the Ukrainian authorities will have to piece together what evidence they can recover for indictments and as evidence in some future trial.

It recalls some of the worst episodes in Europe in the past century and more of conflicts: 440 bodies discovered at a mass burial site in the city, many killed by indiscriminate shelling and through a lack of medical care. As the conflict has proceeded, it has become clear that the Russian forces only have three reliable methods of warfare: sheer numbers, heavy bombardment of civilian targets to trigger terror – and sadistic repression once they have taken control of the rubble.

Much good it has done them. Ukrainian people who might otherwise have been passive under occupation have fought back – and the horrors have proved a mighty motivation for Ukrainian units to free their fellow citizens. The Ukrainians’ deep hatred of the Russians and Vladimir Putin will never be extinguished, even when peace does come.

The Russian spring offensive, therefore, was futile. It has left nothing behind except misery and broken homes. When the Ukrainians – bolstered by patriotic fervour and Western munitions and intelligence – launched their offensive to the east, the Russians put up little resistance and ran away as fast as they could, abandoning tanks and half-finished meals.

Badly led, badly fed and bewildered, President Putin’s conscript army must have looked around them and wondered what it was they were fighting for. Shocked by the audacity of the Ukrainian counterattack, and awed by the technological superiority of Western technology, all they could do is scarper – or “regroup”, as the Kremlin prefers to put it.

Although it might not be uppermost in their minds, any Russian troops and their more senior officers who committed, condoned or commanded war crimes will know that, one day, justice may catch up with them. As with the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War – and more recent tribunals after civil wars in the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda, among others – the war criminals hardly expected that events would turn so far against them that they would be caught, hunted down, or, in some cases, handed over by their successors in government. So it will be with Ukraine.

A new regime in Russia becomes more likely with every military setback, every fresh diplomatic humiliation and every rouble lost through sanctions. President Putin, for reasons known only to himself, declared to the world after the visit of President Xi that China has “questions and concerns” over the war in Ukraine. The Chinese may well find Russia an agreeable, like-minded ally, but Russian failures must make them doubt the practical value of their partnership.

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The “special military operation” in Ukraine has not, after all, provided a useful precedent for aggressive action towards Taiwan, and has only served to highlight how corrupt and weak Russia actually is – aside from a nuclear arsenal it cannot use. Moreover, as a nation that relies on exports to the West, China cannot look kindly upon Mr Putin’s use of gas as a weapon to force a global recession. That is not in the Chinese national interest.

President Zelensky, visiting his broken eastern regions, says “our law enforcers are already receiving evidence of murder, torture, and abductions of people by the occupiers”, adding there was “evidence of genocide against Ukrainians”.

That is an understandable claim, and all the more so in the context of President Putin’s long discursions about why Ukraine was not only not a legitimate country, but that its people hadn’t their own distinct identity or culture. It will be for the international authorities to determine what exactly took place in this merciless war of aggression, and who should be charged.

One day they will be held responsible – and if he is still around, Vladimir Putin may well find himself on a charge sheet.