The Russian military assault on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol between March and May 2022 left thousands of civilians dead and injured, including many in apparently unlawful attacks, and trapped hundreds of thousands for weeks without basic services. Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials should be investigated and appropriately prosecuted for their role in apparent war crimes committed by Russian forces during the fighting there, and Russia should provide reparations to victims of laws-of-war violations and their families. Our City Was Gone’: Russia’s Devastation of Mariupol, Ukraine,” analyzes the civilian suffering and damage to thousands of buildings, including several hundred high-rise apartments, hospitals, educational facilities, and electricity and water infrastructure. They describe repeated attempts by Ukrainian officials and international agencies to organize official evacuations and aid deliveries in the face of Russian obstruction.

Russian forces used a large air-delivered munition on an apartment building on March 9, 2022, in Izium, eastern Ukraine, in an attack that killed at least 44 civilians and violated the laws of war. This new web report uses survivor testimony, photos, videos, and 3D modeling of the building at 2 Pershotravneva Street to show the devastating effects of the attack.

The International Criminal Court judges issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In this Twitter Space, we discuss the warrants, war crimes in Ukraine, and why justice matters, everywhere.

Izium Apartment Victims Need Justice

On International Women's Day, we take a closer look at the global food crisis, how it affects women and girls, and why gender inequality drives hunger. With Angela Machonesa, Plan International, Ayushi Kalyan, FIAN International, and Birgit Schwarz.

It’s been one year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Birgit Schwarz moderates this conversation on ensuring justice for war crimes in Ukraine, with Yulia Gorbunova, and Maryna Slobodianiuk from Truth Hounds.

Russian forces deployed the type of missile system used in the attack on Kramatorsk train station that killed at least 58 civilians fleeing fighting in eastern Ukraine in April 2022, an investigation by Human Rights Watch and SITU Research reveals. The attack is a serious violation of the laws of war and an apparent war crime.

Survivors Describe Beatings, Electric Shocks, Waterboarding

Today marks six months since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The hostilities that followed have been characterized by widespread war crimes, potential crimes against humanity, and immense human suffering. At least 5,587 civilians have been killed and another 7,890 injured, according to the United Nations – likely a significant underestimate. Countless homes, schools, hospitals, and other civilian structures have been damaged or destroyed, many during apparently unlawful indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, the vast majority by Russian forces. Often these attacks have used explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas, including some with widely banned cluster munitions. In areas that they have occupied, Russian forces have carried out deliberate attacks on civilians, including summary executions, enforced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, and arbitrary detentions. This violence and abuse has led 6.7 million Ukrainians to flee the country over the past six months, while internally displacing another 6.5 million. Human Rights Watch researchers have been on the ground in and around Ukraine since February 24 – and since the start of this war eight years ago – documenting some of the worst violations. We’ve interviewed hundreds of victims, victims’ families, and witnesses to abuses. We’ve visited towns and villages formerly occupied by Russian forces to investigate atrocities against civilians during the occupation. We also went to the sites of buildings that were hit by Russian bombing and shelling to establish the facts and determine whether specific strikes violated international humanitarian law, or the laws of war. This video tells the story of some of the violations that we’ve investigated over the past six months. In all of our research, what we hear again and again is that the victims of these violations want justice. We hope that the documentation we are doing will help lay the foundation for accountability efforts – and help deter these types of crimes from being committed again, in Ukraine and beyond.

Ahead of an informal United Nations meeting on accountability for serious crimes in Ukraine, HRW staffers discuss justice efforts for Ukraine.