The UN International Commission of Inquiry on Violations in Ukraine has stated that it does not yet have sufficient legal grounds to recognize the war in the country as genocide. This statement was made at a press conference in Kyiv by the chairman of the commission, Eric Mesé, Radio Liberty reports.

He emphasized that the commission has not yet concluded that genocide is taking place in Ukraine, and explained that they do not have sufficient evidence that would meet the legal qualifications of the Genocide Convention.


"You remember that this is a question of intent, the intent of the criminals. There must be a "need" to destroy a certain group. And such destruction, according to the Convention, must be physical or biological. These are the strict conditions (for the recognition of genocide - ed.) that have been confirmed by judicial practice," Mesé said.

However, he noted that the investigation in Ukraine will continue, and the Commission has previously drawn attention to statements in the Russian media that could be related to the issue of incitement to genocide.

"As you know, we have found a large number of war crimes. We have found that in at least two topics, namely torture and the attacks (on Ukraine's energy infrastructure - ed.) from October 2022, the question is whether they should be considered crimes against humanity... And we have determined that there are signs that this may be a crime against humanity. Therefore, I think it is useful to look at everything in context," the head of the commission emphasized.