WASHINGTON – Russia’s suspected war crimes in Ukraine were under the spotlight at hearings Wednesday as lawmakers sought to keep public support for Kyiv from faltering.
Ukrainians shared their stories with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee at a morning briefing that was followed by testimony from Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin. The first witness spoke of being tortured and forced to dig a grave for herself.
“It’s very difficult to understand why they’re behaving like this,” Kostin said, citing evidence of Russian atrocities in cities such as Bucha, Irpin and Kherson. “The only possible explanation is they just want to erase Ukraine and Ukrainians from the land.’’
International law sets out how armed conflicts are supposed to be conducted and bans activities such as torture, hostage-taking or attacking civilian infrastructure. President Joe Biden Biden said last month that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin had “clearly committed war crimes.”
At the other end of Capitol Hill, senators were expected to hear from Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on assistance the Justice Department has been providing to Kostin and Justice Department efforts to crack down on wealthy Russians who try to evade war-related sanctions.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in an interview that his goal is to give Americans an “unvarnished view” of the atrocities in Ukraine and to solidify support among Republican lawmakers who might question future military assistance to the nation.
“They kidnapped people, kept them locked up and tortured them. In January of this year they came for me,” said the woman, 57. “They took me to a torture chamber and kept me there for five days.”
The woman said Russian soldiers beat and cut her with knives, forced her to undress in front of them, then fired a gun next to her head as if they were shooting her.
“They also forced me to dig my own grave,” said the woman, whose daughter is an American citizen. “After all the torture, they let me go. But they said they would come back.”
Like other victims, the woman did not answer questions from committee members.
Russia has abducted 20,000 Ukrainian children, prosecutor general says
Russian forces have committed 80,840 war crimes and crimes of aggression since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Kostin’s office said this week. They have also killed at least 470 children and wounded 948, his office said.
On Wednesday, Kostin told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Kremlin has abducted nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children with the intent of indoctrinating them as Russians. Only 361 of those children have been returned, said Kostin, who urged lawmakers to sanction Russia’s banks, its nuclear industry and officials involved in deporting Ukrainian minors.
“We have information about dozens or even hundreds of Russian officials, even of lower level in the region, who were involved in these policies,” Kostin said. “Sanctioning them would play a deterring effect for other Russian officials who should think before taking part in these war crimes.’’
‘Patriots’ come to Ukraine’s air defense
Leaked Pentagon documents revealed weaknesses in Ukraine’s air defenses. The arrival of American-made Patriot missile systems should help bolster them.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Wednesday hailed the surface-to-air batteries reaching his country after months of waiting for them.
The urgency of the weapons’ arrival was highlighted by U.S. Defense Department documents that showed Ukraine was in danger of running out of air defense munitions in the coming weeks after months of sustained Russian missile and drone attacks.
