Russia planned to cause famine in Ukraine in three stages: details
Russia planned to cause a famine in Ukraine in three stages after its invasion.
This information appeared in The Guardian article and is based on the evidence base of human rights activists and ICC prosecutors.
Human rights activists and the law firm Global Rights Compliance are actively cooperating with Ukrainian prosecutors. The purpose of this cooperation is to collect sufficient evidence for the International Criminal Court regarding Russia’s use of starvation as a weapon of war.
Already in March of this year, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for crimes against humanity. Now lawyers are seeking to prove his involvement in an attempt to cause famine in Ukraine.
Senior Associate Yusuf Khan emphasizes that the Russian side began using famine as a military tactic immediately after the outbreak of the war. This is confirmed by the deaths of civilians during the shelling of a bread queue in Chernihiv on March 16, 2022.
Another important part of Russia’s strategy is the destruction of infrastructure and food supplies.
Phase I: documented incidents include the deaths of 20 civilians in Chernihiv in the early morning hours of March 16, 2022, when Russian fragmentation bombs exploded near a supermarket in the city where Ukrainians were queuing for bread and groceries.
Investigators are also focused on the siege of Mariupol, added Yusuf Khan. Food supplies to the city were cut off, and humanitarian aid corridors were blocked or bombed, making it very difficult or impossible for desperate, starving civilians to escape.
The second phase includes the destruction of food and water supplies and energy sources throughout Ukraine during the fighting, which the lawyer called “objects necessary for the survival of the civilian population.”
Such attacks, Yusuf Khan argued, were “crimes of intent, not of result,” because “if you take out objects that civilians need, such as energy infrastructure in the dead of winter, your actions are predictable.”
Cities such as Mykolaiv in the south were left without drinking water at the beginning of the conflict after Russian forces seized the pumping station that supplied it. The remaining residents were forced to rely on water delivered daily to allow them to drink and wash safely.
The third element is Russia’s attempts to prevent or limit Ukrainian food exports.
“Then we saw Russia attacking grain complexes on the Danube and making threats in the Black Sea,” Yusuf Khan said, referring to Ukrainian officials’ reports that 270,000 tons of food was destroyed in late July and early August.
The recent accusations that Russia tried to starve Ukrainians to death are particularly emotional in light of the history of the two countries: in 1932-33, millions starved to death during the Holodomor, a forced famine caused by Joseph Stalin’s Soviet government.
According to Ukrainian officials, 270,000 tons of food were destroyed as a result of the hostilities. Lawyers argue that Putin may be responsible for these actions, either as the initiator or through uncontrolled subordinates.
The evidence collected is a step towards forming an international charge against the Russian side. This issue is particularly acute in the context of war crimes and violations of international law.
