Reuters has been reporting on the possibility of atrocities in the Ukraine conflict becoming classified as war crimes (from RFE/RL's news desk):
According to the Reuters news agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has made a confidential legal assessment that Ukraine is officially in a war, opening the door to possible war crimes prosecutions.
Reuters -- citing sources -- says the ICRC has not made any public statement, seeking not to offend either Ukraine or Russia by calling it a civil war or a case of foreign aggression.
ICRC spokeswoman Anastasia Isyuk told Reuters "The qualification has been shared bilaterally and confidentially."
Designating the conflict in Ukraine as a war -- either international or civil -- would turn both sides into combatants with equal liability for war crimes, which have no statute of limitations and cannot be absolved by an amnesty.
Without the designation, Ukrainian government forces would be responsible for protecting civilians and infrastructure under international human rights law, while separatists would only be liable under Ukraine's criminal laws.
#EU Foreign Policy Chief #Ashton: There will be no new sanctions adopted at today's meeting of EU Foreign Ministers. #Russia #Ukraine
— Nina Schick (@NinaDSchick) July 22, 2014
Ukraine's interior ministry @AvakovArsen claims Severodonetsk has fallen to Ukrainian forces. Fighting continues in Lysychansk next door
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) July 22, 2014
In case you missed it, my full remarks after today's @UN Security Council adoption of resolution on #MH17: http://t.co/0lz5MjdoqD
— Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) July 22, 2014
OSCE to BBC: #MH17 parts "look different than when we first saw them. In other words they've been cut into," one part "almost split in half"
— Kirit Radia (@KiritRadia) July 22, 2014
Reuters: #Ukraine votes to call up more #military reserves to protect border http://t.co/6qrYDB1MoH #war #troops
— Kyiv Post (@KyivPost) July 22, 2014
Ukraine's interior ministry @AvakovArsen claims Severodonetsk has fallen to Ukrainian forces. Fighting continues in Lysychansk next door
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) July 22, 2014
Our multimedia department has issued this Reuters video of the train carrying bodies of victims of MH17 arriving in Kharkiv:
Meanwhile, in Kyiv, there have been fisticuffs in the parliament after Party of Regions deputy Mykola Levchenko called for an end to the government's "Antiterrorist Operation" in the east of the country:
As RFE/RL's news desk reports, Dalia Grybauskaite has been weighing in on France's sale of Mistral warships to Russia:
Lithuania’s president has criticized a French deal to sell warships to Russia, saying it shows the European Union compromising its values in order to protect trade ties with Moscow.
Dalia Grybauskaite made the comments in Vilnius today as EU foreign ministers gathered in Brussels to decide whether to increase sanctions on Russia over the Malaysian plane disaster.
Britain is calling for tougher measures against Moscow.
France and Germany, who each have crucial trade ties to Russia, are more reluctant.
Grybauskaite described that reluctance as "the Mistralization of European policy" -- referring to France's $1.6 billion deal to supply Russia with the two French Mistral warships.
Grybauskaite said selling military technology to Russia "under current circumstances cannot be tolerated."
She also warned that "indecisive" EU policy would mean "a direct invitation for the aggressor to be more aggressive."
(AFP, France 24)