War crimes in Ukraine will be prosecuted says Polish foreign minister

Rau was speaking at an annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in the British city of Birmingham on Monday. Marcin Obara/PAP

Those responsible for crimes against the Ukrainian state and nation will be brought before justice, said Zbigniew Rau, the Polish foreign minister who also chairs the Organization for the Co-operation and Security in Europe (OSCE).

Rau was speaking at an annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in the British city of Birmingham on Monday.

Among crimes committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine Rau named attacks against civilian infrastructure, use of banned weapons, stealing and looting, rape, murder and executions.

"We used to think that such immoral and barbaric behaviour and such instruments of waging a war were a thing of the past, but unfortunately we were wrong," Rau said, adding that such Ukrainian towns as Bucha, Irpin, Borodianka and Kremenchuk will go down in history as examples of Russian brutality.

"The crimes committed against the Ukrainian state and Ukrainian nation deserve our strongest condemnation and those responsible for those war crimes will be brought to justice," the OSCE head said.

The 29th annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly started on Saturday.

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