UK'S ₤4M PLEDGE TO FIND PUTIN'S CRUEL WAR CRIMINALS

SURVIVORS of Russian war crimes in Ukraine were one step closer in their quest for justice today with the announcement of a new financial boost from Britain.

- Marco Giannangeli

The £4.5million pledge will help prosecutors hunt down the soldiers and commanders responsible for "unspeakable atrocities" since Vladimir Putin launched his illegal invasion almost three years ago.

They range from deliberately targeting civilian homes, hospitals and infrastructure to kidnapping children, sexual violence, the shooting of unarmed prisoners and the use of chemical weapons.

The Government has already committed to providing £3billion of military support to Ukraine every year "for as long as it takes".

Today's new pledge will, sources say, help support Kyiv's efforts to document, investigate and prosecute war crimes by supporting hundreds of police officers, investigators, prosecutors and judges to work more effectively on complex investigations and forensic responses.

The new money is in addition to the £6million already given to the Ukraine Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group.

Set up by the UK, the EU and the US, this group employs 150 experts and has launched more than 350,000 individual war crime investigations.

The case for Russian war crimes was opened by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court just a month after Russia's invasion in February 2022.

By September that year, the UN-backed Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine confirmed Russian forces had committed war crimes.

Its report cited the illegal use of chemical weapons, explosive weapons in densely populated areas, indiscriminate attacks, executions and torture as well as sexual and gender-based violence.