On the afternoon of November 15, Polish authorities a projectile exploded near the village of Przewodow near the Ukraine border, killing two people.
Ukraine officials and some news reports initially attributed the strike to Russia, which that afternoon had launched scores of missiles at electric power facilities and other targets across Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the apparent strike on Poland a “significant escalation” in the war.
The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a blunt denial.
“Polish mass media and officials commit deliberate provocation to escalate situation with their statement on alleged impact of 'Russian' rockets at Przewodow,” the ministry said on Telegram.
That is misleading.
True enough, the next day authorities in Poland said the explosion appeared to be from a Ukrainian air defense missile and not an intentional attack by Russia. The prospect of the latter sparked fears that the United States and its NATO allies, which include Poland, could be pulled into direct conflict with Russia.
But Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general, got it right when :
“Let me be clear: This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine.”
In the latest attack, Zelenskyy said Russia had fired some 85 missiles at power facilities across Ukraine, causing multiple blackouts. Ukraine defenders claimed to have shot down about 70.
It’s not the first time Russia has aimed at civilian targets. After a similar barrage in mid-October, using cruise missiles and Iranian suicide drones, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Russia had committed war crimes.
“Targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure with the clear aim to cut off men, women, children of water, electricity and heating with the winter coming – these are acts of pure terror, and we have to call it as such,” she said.
Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court defines war crimes to include the following:
And:
And:
Neither Russia nor Ukraine is among the 123 states that are parties to the Rome Statute treaty, although Ukraine has agreed to some limited jurisdiction on its territory.
The International Criminal Court at The Hague prosecutes war crimes under the Rome Statute and is investigating allegations against Russia and Ukraine. The ICC, however, the cooperation of states to detain those accused of responsibility, something that's far from a sure bet in Russia.
In September, an independent United Nations investigative commission concluded that war crimes have been committed — with the overwhelming majority by Russian forces. A U.N. summary of the commission’s findings, based on visits to 27 towns and settlements, cited:
Commissioner Pablo de Greiff said:
In October, a joint investigation by the news organizations Bellingcat, The Insider and Der Spiegel 33 Russia service members in a special army unit responsible for targeting missile strikes against Ukraine.
Reporting on the findings, the independent Kyiv Post said:
In September, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country's law enforcement had sent the names of more than 200 people accused of shelling civilians to the International Criminal Court, along with 3,000 reports of alleged war crimes in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council Lavrov :
But as , British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged the council to counter the “catalogue of lies” from the Kremlin.
"We must make clear to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin that his attack on the Ukrainian people must stop, that there can be no impunity for those perpetrating atrocities," Cleverly said.