Topic: War crimes
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Ukraine serves in absentia notice of suspicion on Black Sea Fleet commander over Kyiv apartment attack
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) and prosecutors served an in absentia notice of suspicion on Admiral Serhiy Pinchuk, commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, for ordering the 8 July 2024 cruise missile strike on a residential apartment building in Kyiv that killed 13 people including 5 children. Investigators say the strike was carried out with 3M-14 Kalibr cruise missiles launched from the frigate Admiral Makarov and the submarine B-261 Veliky Novgorod in the Black Sea, on the basis of a combat order signed by Pinchuk. The notice was served in absentia because Pinchuk is in Russia.
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Trial begins in absentia over Russian strike on Hroza cafe that killed 59
Ukrainian prosecutors have sent to court the case over the October 5, 2023 Russian Iskander-M missile strike on the Sputnik cafe in the village of Hroza, Kharkiv Oblast, which killed 59 people, including a child, during a memorial lunch. Seven defendants — two local brothers accused of guiding the attack and five Russian military commanders — will be tried in absentia.
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Ukraine completes opening of all 43 claim categories at international damage register
The International Register of Damage Caused by Russia's Aggression Against Ukraine (RD4U) completed the phased opening of all 43 claim categories on 30 September. The categories cover damages to individuals, legal entities, and the State of Ukraine. The Register has received about 195,000 claims, of which more than 65,000 have been entered into the Register.
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Russia launches massive combined missile and drone strike on Kyiv overnight, killing civilians including a child
In the night of 29–30 September 2026, Russia carried out a large-scale combined missile and drone attack on Ukraine with the main strike direction targeting Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast. Ukrainian air defense reported intercepting 5 ballistic missiles and 155 of 188 launched drones. Two women were killed in Kyiv and a child died in Vyshhorod, where rescuers pulled three survivors from the rubble of a destroyed house. Fires and damage were recorded in four Kyiv districts and across multiple Kyiv Oblast districts, and 8,000 Kyiv households lost power before DTEK restored supply.
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Ukraine says Russia used civilians, including children, as cover while retreating through gas pipeline near Kupiansk
Ukraine's National Guard 'Khartiia' corps says reconnaissance drones recorded Russian forces on 27 September leading nine civilians — including children, elderly people and one person on crutches — out of the Kupiansk community in Kharkiv Oblast through the 'Shebelinka — Ostrohozk' gas pipeline. Khartiia says men of military age in civilian clothes walking alongside the group were Russian soldiers who had removed their uniforms, and that the children and elderly were forced to walk more than 10 kilometres inside the pipe. Ukrainian forces saw the group but did not open fire because of the civilians present; the military says the footage will be passed on for a war crimes investigation. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha publicly characterized the actions as the use of Ukrainian civilians as a 'human shield' and as gross violations of international humanitarian law.
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Russian drones strike Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast overnight, one killed, several injured
On the night and morning of 27 September 2026, Russian drones struck multiple districts of Kyiv and parts of Kyiv Oblast, killing one man in the Solomianskyi district and injuring at least three people including two 16-year-old girls in the Shevchenkivskyi district. Fires were reported at a warehouse, an auto service station, an office building, and a school, while the logistics company Zammler confirmed its Brovarskyi district warehouse was hit. The strikes were part of a nationwide barrage of 170 strike drones, of which 147 were reportedly shot down or suppressed by 07:30.
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Ukrainian forces deliver 4 tonnes of food by drone to occupied Oleshky as humanitarian crisis deepens
Ukrainian forces used drones to deliver about 4,000 kg of food to 100 locations in Russian-occupied Oleshky, Kherson Oblast, one of the largest such operations since systematic drone deliveries across the Dnipro began in March. Head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian forces shoot down delivery drones, seize or resell the food, and detain and beat residents who receive aid. The situation has been raised at the UN Security Council, with Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha comparing the blockade to the 1932–1933 Holodomor.
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Council of Europe rights chief calls for ceasefire, evacuation in occupied Oleshky
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty has called for an immediate local ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access, and the evacuation of civilians from the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in Kherson region, where residents face severe hunger, lack of medicine, water, and electricity. No food deliveries have reached the town since late May, and the only road in is mined and monitored by drones. O'Flaherty cited the Fourth Geneva Convention in holding Russia, as the occupying power, responsible for providing for the population.
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Finland approves Special Tribunal on Russian aggression and Compensation Commission, sends proposals to parliament
Finland's government endorsed the creation of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and an International Compensation Commission for Ukraine, transmitting its proposals to the Finnish parliament. The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the decisions on X. Finland becomes the 21st state to join the tribunal agreement.
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Russian overnight strike hits Odesa hospital, school, residential buildings
Russian forces launched a massive combined attack on Odesa and Odesa Oblast overnight into 24 September, damaging a hospital, a gymnasium, residential buildings, a previously struck hypermarket and other civilian infrastructure. Two people were injured. Ukrainian authorities have opened a war-crime investigation.
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Russia strikes Kyiv overnight, hitting residential building and damaging five districts
Russia launched a combined missile and drone attack on Kyiv overnight on 22 September 2026, hitting a five-story residential building in the Dnipro district and causing damage in at least four other city districts. Rescuers saved 15 residents from the damaged building; the number of injured reported rose from three to five over the course of the morning. No fatalities were reported from the Kyiv strikes.
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Trump signs Graham Act, codifying US sanctions for forced deportation of Ukrainian children
US President Donald Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act (H.R. 5334) on 18 September, putting into statute for the first time sanctions grounds for the forced deportation of Ukrainian children. The law also authorizes sweeping tariffs on Russian energy buyers and direct Russian imports, and bans new US investments in Russia.
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Russian guided bombs hit residential building in Sumy, killing two city council employees
On the evening of 18 September, Russian forces struck Sumy with 6–7 guided aerial bombs (KABs), directly hitting a nine-storey residential building in the Kovpakivskyi district between the 3rd and 4th floors. Two Sumy City Council employees — Alla Korniienko (45) and Roman Trepalin (52) — were killed; their 7-year-old son was rescued from the rubble and placed in intensive care. Casualty figures rose through the night as rescue operations continued.
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UN report documents over 1,000 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine since 2022
The UN Human Rights Office has documented around 1,004 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine between 24 February 2022 and the end of July of the reporting year, attributing 89% of cases to representatives of Russian authorities. The report, based on confidential interviews with hundreds of victims as well as court documents and official records, details specific methods including rape, genital mutilation, and the use of Soviet-era "tapik" field telephones to deliver electric shocks to victims' genitals. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for the immediate cessation of hostilities and a full Russian withdrawal from Ukraine.
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Russian drone strike on passenger bus in Nikopol kills five, Zelenskyy calls it an atrocity
A Russian drone struck a passenger bus in Ukraine's Nikopol district of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on the morning of 16 September, killing five people and wounding at least seven, according to the regional military administration. All five died at the scene and the injured are receiving medical care. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strike as an atrocity with no military rationale, and Dnipropetrovsk regional council chairman Mykola Lukaschuk accused Russia of deliberately targeting a minibus carrying civilians on their daily routes.
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Russian drone attack on Kyiv hits gas stations and warehouses, killing one and wounding eleven
Russia struck Kyiv with drones overnight and throughout the day on 15 September, hitting two Ukrnafta gas stations in the Darnytskyi and Holosiivskyi districts, warehouse premises in Obolonskyi, and garage cooperatives in Solomianskyi and Sviatoshynskyi. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and the Kyiv City Military Administration (KMVA) reported one person killed and eleven injured across the day, with air defence active and Kyiv City Express service temporarily suspended.
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Russian drones damage civilian rescue tugboat Sapfir in Odesa Oblast port
Russian drones struck a port in Odesa Oblast on 13 September 2026, damaging the civilian search-and-rescue tugboat Sapfir. Ukraine's Ministry of Restoration, Infrastructure and Transport said no casualties were reported and called the strike a gross violation of international humanitarian and maritime law, announcing it would notify the International Maritime Organization and international partners.
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Russia launches nearly 500 strike drones at Ukraine on September 12, Zelensky says campaign targets the economy
On September 12, Russia conducted a sustained day-and-night drone barrage of nearly 500 strike drones against Ukraine, hitting railway infrastructure, food warehouses and other civilian economic targets. Ukrainian air defence downed or suppressed 336 of the 410 drones launched during the daytime period. President Zelensky framed the strikes as a deliberate effort to destroy Ukraine's economy and break Ukrainian resistance.
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Russian drones hit two Kyiv petrol stations, killing two civilians
Russian drone strikes on the morning of September 11 hit two Ukrnafta petrol stations in Kyiv's Dnipro and Obolon districts, killing two people and injuring several others. The Obolon station was hit twice. It was the second consecutive day of strikes on Ukrnafta fuel sites in the capital.
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Anti-Corruption Center says Ukrainian investigators knew of alleged crimes in Skelia regiment since March
Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Center (ЦПК) has alleged that the State Bureau of Investigation (ДБР) may have known since at least March 2026 about alleged crimes in the 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelia" but failed to open pretrial investigations until after a Babel media investigation was published in June. According to ЦПК, the Office of the Military Ombudsman sent eight letters to the ДБР and the Office of the Prosecutor General between March and June 2026 describing possible offenses including torture, physical violence and failure to provide medical aid resulting in death; in six of those cases the ДБР declined to open pretrial investigations, citing insufficient grounds.