A new report from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe found that Russia broke international humanitarian law and committed war crimes with its attacks on a hospital and theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The Mariupol theatre was hit by an airstrike on March 16.
Three experts found clear patterns of international humanitarian law violations by the Russian forces in the report.
The experts concluded in the report that Russia's targeted killing and abductions of civilians are likely crimes against humanity.
The report comes a month after the majority of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe asked for a fact-finding investigation into the human rights impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The expert panel found that the Russian attack on the Mariupol Maternity House and Children's Hospital that left 3 dead and 17 injured was deliberate.
The March 9 bombing of the Mariupol theater that killed 300 people was an egregious violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime, according to the panel of experts.
The report documents the catalog of inhumanity committed by Russia's forces in Ukraine. There is evidence of direct targeting of civilians, attacks on medical facilities, rape, executions, and forced deportation of civilians to Russia.
The Moscow Mechanism was named after a conference held in the city in 1991 and 45 of the 57 members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe voted to use it. The mechanism was last used in 2020 to investigate alleged human rights violations. Only a dozen of the organization's member states voted against the most recent investigation into Russia's actions in Ukraine. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol since Russia began its invasion, according to the city's mayor. The report comes a day after Biden called Russia's actions in Ukraine a genocide for the first time, saying it has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of being Ukrainian.
There are efforts to gather evidence of war crimes. The attack on civilians that Ukrainian officials have said left more than 300 dead was not included in the report. If the killings are confirmed, serious national and international inquiries need to be done on the spot with forensic experts. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ukraine has sent more than 1,000 people to investigate war crimes in the suburb.
Russia's attacks on civilians in Mariupol are war crimes.
Biden accuses Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine for the first time.
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