The United Kingdom stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in its fight for accountability for Russia’s actions.

The Attorney General has regular contact with her Ukrainian counterpart, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin. She visited him in Kyiv and joined him at Ukraine’s United for Justice conference in Lviv over 3 to 5 March, and more recently hosted him in London for the UK-Dutch Justice Ministers’ Conference in support of the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the situation in Ukraine.

Prosecutor General Kostin is responsible for the extraordinary task of investigating and prosecuting crimes committed in Ukraine and has opened over 80,000 files covering a range of alleged offences. The Ukrainian authorities have brought successful war crimes prosecutions already in Ukraine’s domestic courts, in real time during this live and brutal conflict – a practically unprecedented achievement.

We are supporting Ukraine in their domestic legal processes through a number of significant initiatives. We have recently concluded a judicial training programme in the region, led by Sir Howard Morrison KC, training over 100 judges in person on the conduct of war crimes trials.

The UK, together with the United States and EU, has also launched the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) to directly support the War Crimes Units of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine in its investigation and prosecution of conflict-related crimes. The ACA seeks to streamline coordination and communication efforts to ensure best practices, avoid duplication of efforts, and encourage the expeditious deployment of financial resources and skilled personnel to respond to the needs of the OPG as the legally constituted authority in Ukraine responsible for dealing with the prosecution of war crimes on its own territory.

This government remains steadfast in its ongoing support to Ukraine’s search for justice.