Russia deliberately used 'starvation tactics' against residents of Mariupol, which is a war crime, and lawyers have applied to the International Criminal Court to issue another warrant to Russia.
This was reported by The Guardian.
Thus, according to lawyers, according to a new analysis submitted to the International Criminal Court, the strategy adopted by the Russians to deprive people in the Ukrainian city of food and services during the siege may be tantamount to a war crime. It is noted that during the 85-day siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in early 2022, Russia and its leaders intended to kill and harm a large number of civilians.
The conclusion of the dossier submitted to the ICC in The Hague by Global Rights Compliance lawyers working with the Ukrainian government states that 22,000 people died during the encirclement and capture of the city of Mariupol at the beginning of the war in Ukraine. In particular, some of those who were not killed by a Russian missile died because of the cold and hunger, as civilians were left without water, gas and electricity for several days after the siege, and temperatures dropped below minus 10C.
Catriona Murdoch, partner at Global Rights Compliance, said the aim of the study was "to see if there was a broader narrative" that would indicate that the Russian military and its leadership deliberately denied the city's civilians of food and other essentials.
"What we could see is that there were four phases to the Russian assault, starting with attacks on civilian infrastructure, cutting out the supply of electricity, heating and water. Then humanitarian evacuations were denied and even attacked, while aid was prevented from getting through," Murdoch said.
She added that in the third phase, the remaining critical infrastructure that remained and continued to function was soon shelled by the occupiers, civilians were terrorized, and water points were bombed.
Finally, in the fourth phase, Russia launched strategic attacks to destroy or capture any remaining infrastructure.
According to Murdoch, the phased bombardment of Mariupol showed that Russia intended to capture this frontline city without mercy for its civilian population, which was estimated to be 450,000 before the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022.
Initially, the lawyers were not sure whether they would be able to create a war crimes dossier for Mariupol, as the Russian occupation made it difficult to collect evidence despite the fierce fighting and high number of casualties. However, they managed to develop a technology that used a specially created algorithm to map the destruction of specific locations. This made it possible to track them using satellite images, which explosives experts used to assess the Russian attacks.
According to various estimates, the actual number of people who died of hunger, thirst and lack of medical care in Mariupol could reach more than 100,000.
Earlier "Apostrophe" reported that the situation in temporarily occupied Mariupol remains deplorable - the city has problems with heating, no compensation for destroyed property is paid and there is no work.