ICYMI: Senator Coons highlights U.S. support for ICC efforts to hold Russian leaders accountable for war crimes in new op-ed

“[W]e must continue to supply Ukraine with the materiel it needs to achieve victory and drive Russia from its territory, and the world community with the tools to hold Russia accountable in every possible way”

August 03, 2023

WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) published an op-ed in the Delaware News-Journal that highlights the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine and his role in ensuring that the Biden administration has the tools necessary to support the International Criminal Court (ICC) as it seeks to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders accountable for their war crimes.

Coming on the heels of the Biden administration’s announcement that it would share information with the ICC about Russian war crimes, Senator Coons highlighted his bipartisan efforts to enable the U.S. government to collaborate with the ICC, which became law in last year’s State and Foreign Operations (SFOPS) appropriations bill. The bill authorized the United States to provide financial support to, and share information with, the ICC to investigate and prosecute Putin and his regime’s crimes in Ukraine.

A Co-Chair of the Senate Human Rights Caucus, Senator Coons has worked to draw attention to war crimes committed during Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine. Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Senator Coons introduced a Senate resolution calling for Vladimir Putin and members of the Russian regime to be held accountable for their numerous acts of war, aggression, and human rights abuses. In April 2022, Senator Coons also issued a statement on reports of war crimes by the Russian military in Ukraine.

Delaware News-Journal: Chris Coons: This is why we must continue to strongly support Ukraine

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The New York Times reported last week that President Joe Biden decided to share U.S. government information with the International Criminal Court in The Hague to bolster their efforts to investigate and prosecute Russian war crimes in Ukraine. I’m proud to have led the way in giving our president that option, with strong bipartisan support. Members of Congress from both parties understand the need to hold Russian war criminals accountable for their heinous actions.

Bucha, Izyum, and Mariupol are a few tragic examples of Ukrainian towns and cities now famous for all the wrong reasons. These are places where Russian forces bound the hands of Ukrainian civilians and executed them in the streets; where they hastily buried the bodies of 440 locals in a mass grave; where they firebombed once-vibrant neighborhoods to rubble and kidnapped thousands of innocent Ukrainian children.

These sites are notable examples of the brutality of President Vladimir Putin and his regime, but they are far from the only ones. In the time since Putin’s full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022, the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General has recorded more than 66,000 alleged war crimes. Accordingly, on March 17, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova — the latter responsible for the forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children.

That’s why our ongoing, strong support for Ukraine must include not only the weapons Ukrainians need to defend themselves and the resources they need to sustain government services for the population, but also ensure that Putin and his regime are held to account for their butchery.