Rada appeals to ICC asking it to look into crimes on Kyiv Maidan and in Donbas

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has recognized the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court with respect to crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by senior officials of the Russian Federation and leaders of the terrorist organizations – the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics, which led to very serious consequences and mass murders of Ukrainian citizens.

A total of 271 MPs voted on Wednesday for a decision to appeal to the International Criminal Court to recognize its jurisdiction over these events.

"On behalf of the Ukrainian people, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as a single legislative body of Ukraine, recognizing the jurisdiction appeals to the International Criminal Court for criminal prosecution in the International Criminal Court under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court with respect to crimes against humanity, war crimes in Ukraine committed since February 20, 2014 until the present time by senior officials of the Russian Federation and the leaders of terrorist organizations DPR and LPR, which will be determined by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court," the Ukrainian parliament said in a statement.

The document says that since the spring of 2014, Ukraine has been suffering from the continued military aggression of Russia and Russia-backed militants, during which Crimea and Sevastopol were annexed, which are the part of the territory of an independent sovereign state of Ukraine, and part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions has been occupied, thousands of Ukrainian citizens killed, including children, thousands of people injured, the infrastructure of the whole region destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee from their homes.

The statement also noted that the latest act of violence by the military units of the Russian Federation and the Russia-backed militants was the shelling from Grad multiple rocket launchers of the residential areas of the city of Mariupol on January 24, 2014.

"The Russian Federation continues to supply mercenaries and weapons, which are used to kill citizens of Ukraine," the statement reads.