War crime charges won’t be enough to deter Putin amid atrocities

In a week that uncovered the extent of Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians, an indiscriminate attack on a train station Friday appeared to provide the strongest indication yet that President Vladimir Putin remains undeterred in his offensive, even as he faces the prospect of war crime charges.

Two rockets hit a railway station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, killing at least 50 people and injuring almost 100 as families and individuals waited to evacuate to safer parts of the country. Ukraine has demanded that Russia be punished for the shelling — and all crimes on their territory.

The Kremlin has denied it was responsible for the Kramatorsk station attack.

It comes as hundreds of devastating images and more local accounts of mass killings and torture of civilians came to light this week, chiefly from the cities of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel, just outside Kyiv.

In Bucha alone, satellite images of crowded graves appear to corroborate claims by the mayor that more than 300 people have been deliberately killed in the city by Russian soldiers. On the streets there, some bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, suggesting they were executed. Others appear to have been killed while trying to flee via humanitarian corridors.

The Kremlin has also denied any involvement in these attacks, despite well-documented evidence to the contrary.

Western allies and human rights groups have rallied to denounce the indiscriminate civilian attacks. G-7 foreign ministers on Thursday responded to the news from Bucha and elsewhere saying they “welcome and support” efforts to investigate potential war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Russian forces.

“The massacres in the town of Bucha and other Ukrainian towns will be inscribed in the list of atrocities and severe violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights, committed by the aggressor on Ukrainian soil,” they said in a joint statement.

But not everyone is convinced that such measures will be enough to deter the Kremlin from its onslaught.

“It is difficult to know whether the threat of accountability weighs at all on the minds of the Russian military or political leadership, including Putin,” Shelley Inglis, executive director of the University of Dayton’s Human Rights Center, said.