UN International Commission Says Found No Evidence Of Genocide Committed In Ukraine

The UN has found no evidence of a genocide committed during the conflict in Ukraine, Erik Mose, the chair of the UN International Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, said on Thursday.

"Well, as regards your first question about genocide, we have not found that there has been a genocide within Ukraine," Mose told reporters.

Earlier in the day, the UN Human Rights Council has released a report saying that the Russian authorities have committed violations of international human rights law in Ukraine, of which many "amount to war crimes and include wilful killings, attacks on civilians, unlawful confinement, torture, rape, and forced transfers and deportations of children."

"The Commission has documented a small number of violations committed by Ukrainian armed forces, including likely indiscriminate attacks and two incidents that qualify as war crimes," the report also read.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine is a standalone body mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged human rights violations and abuses as well as breaches of international humanitarian law and crimes committed amid Russia's military operation in Ukraine. The commission is tasked with establishing the facts and circumstances of any human rights violations revealed and will collect and analyze the evidence "in view of any future legal proceedings."

Russia has consistently rejected accusations of committing war crimes and violating international humanitarian law in Ukraine, saying that international bodies have been mostly ignoring regular reports about Ukrainian war crimes in Donbas and atrocities committed by Ukrainian soldiers.