22 thousand victims: Putin was accused of "Holodomor" during the siege of Mariupol - Guardian

During the capture of Mariupol, according to lawyers, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, at the instructions of the higher command, used the tactics of "deliberate famine" for civilians. The evidence was transmitted to the Hague. According to an analysis transmitted to the International Criminal Court (ICS), during the 85-day siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in early 2022, Russia applied a "intentional model" of hunger tactics equal to war crime.

About it writes the British edition of The Guardian. The conclusion is at the heart of a dossier, which is transmitted to the MCC in Hague by Global Rights Compliance lawyers working together with the Government of Ukraine. It claims that Russia and its leaders intended to kill and harm a large number of civilians. It was estimated that 22,000 people were killed in the surroundings and seizure of Mariupol city in 2022.

The civilians were left without water, gas and electricity within a few days after the siege, as the temperature fell below minus 10 ° C. Katrion Murdock, a partner of Global Rights Compliance, stated that the purpose of the study was to "find out if there was a wider version", which is a deliberate refusal that is, a "hunger strategy" that can be called a war crime.

The Russian attack consisted of four stages: starting with attacks on civilian infrastructure and ending with electricity, heating and water. The humanitarian evacuation was denied and the assistance was not delivered, - the expert said. "In the third stage, the object of the attack was critically important infrastructure, the civilian population was terrorized with the help of a hydoa, and the points with fresh water were bombardized.

Finally, in the fourth stage, Russia made strategic attacks in order to destroy or capture the rest of the infrastructure objects ", - said Katrion Murdoch. The step -by -step attack on Mariupol, she said, demonstrated that Russia planned to seize the frontier city without a mercy to its civilian population, whose number was estimated at 450,000 people, before the commencement of a full -scale invasion of February 24, 2022.

The file concludes that approximately 90% of medical institutions and homes in the city were destroyed or damaged during the siege, and food distribution points, as well as the humanitarian evacuation routes were bombardized. Given the importance of Mariupol and the centralization of the Russian decision -making process, the guilt for the death of thousands of civilians is laid on the top, the report is reported. "Vladimir Putin and the Russian military leadership," Murdock said.

Journalists point out that the ISS takes into account the materials of third parties, although it does not necessarily make a decision on their basis. Hunger and deprivation of the amenities necessary for civilian life are considered to be military crimes, however, it is emphasized in the material, it remains relatively new branch of international law, and has not yet been held accountable for any predictable criminal.

Lawyers stated that at first they were not sure of how easy it would be to create a dossier about war crimes in Mariupol, since the Russian occupation complicated the collection of evidence, despite the fierce fighting and the large number of casualties. However, they developed a technique that used a specially created algorithm to map the destruction of specific places that are tracked by satellite images, by the fact that explosive experts were evaluated as Russian attacks.