Ensuring accountability and justice in response to Russia’s continued attacks against the civilian population in Ukraine

European Parliament resolution of 30 April 2026 on ensuring accountability and justice in response to Russia’s continued attacks against the civilian population in Ukraine (2026/2700(RSP))

The European Parliament,

–having regard to its previous resolutions on Ukraine and Russia,

–having regard to the Charter of the United Nations,

–having regard to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the additional protocols thereto,

–having regard to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,

–having regard to the agreement of 25 June 2025 between the Council of Europe and Ukraine on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine,

–having regard to the European Council conclusions of 26 June 2025, 18 December 2025 and 19 March 2026,

–having regard to the UN General Assembly resolutions of 2 March 2022 deploring Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in violation of the UN Charter and of 14 November 2022 on the furtherance of remedy and reparation for aggression against Ukraine,

–having regard to the Council of Europe Convention establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine,

–having regard to the establishment of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine,

–having regard to Rule 136(2) and (4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.whereas more than four years have passed since Russia launched its illegal, unprovoked and unjustified full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, continuing the assault it began with its 2014 annexation of Crimea and occupation of parts of the Donbas region, in flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, with severe humanitarian, economic, environmental and regional consequences; whereas Russia’s war of aggression is driven by a nationalist imperialist ideology and is part of a broader set of objectives directed against the West and its interests and values;

B.whereas Russia has deliberately and repeatedly targeted civilians and civilian objects, including energy infrastructure and healthcare facilities, constituting grave violations of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; whereas by repeatedly targeting Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure over the past winter, Russia forced millions of people in Ukraine to endure freezing temperatures with limited electricity, heating and running water; whereas the continuous, systematic targeting of energy infrastructure leads to widespread blackouts affecting hospitals and essential services, among others, thus endangering civilian lives;

C.whereas Russian forces have recently intensified their aerial and missile attacks on major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, causing significant civilian casualties and the widespread destruction of residential areas; whereas over the course of April 2026, Russia has launched an unprecedentedly high number of attacks on Ukraine, killing at least 75 civilians and injuring more than 400 people; whereas, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), more than 15 500 civilians have been killed and over 43 000 injured since 24 February 2022, with actual figures likely to be far higher;

D.whereas, according to UNICEF, more than 3 200 children in Ukraine have been killed or injured, more than a third of Ukraine’s children remain displaced and thousands of schools and educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed, resulting in one in three children being unable to attend full-time in-person schooling; whereas in March 2026, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that the Russian authorities had committed crimes against humanity and war crimes through the deportation, forcible transfer and enforced disappearance of Ukrainian children; whereas the EU has repeatedly called on Russia and Belarus to ensure the safe and unconditional return to Ukraine of all Ukrainian children and other civilians who have been deported or transferred; whereas returned children report having endured ‘re-education’ efforts by Russian authorities, aimed at erasing their Ukrainian identity;

E.whereas since 24 February 2022, the World Health Organization has documented at least 2 881 attacks on health workers, healthcare facilities, ambulances and medical warehouses across Ukraine;

F.whereas the UN General Assembly has recognised that Russia must be held accountable for all violations of international law in or against Ukraine and must bear the legal consequences of its internationally wrongful acts, including reparation for the damage caused by such acts; whereas the UN General Assembly has also recognised the need to establish an international reparation mechanism for damage, loss or injury arising from the internationally wrongful acts of the Russian Federation;

G.whereas in March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children; whereas the court subsequently issued warrants for four senior Russian military figures – Viktor Sokolov, Sergei Kobylash, Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov – accused of directing attacks on civilian objects and of crimes against humanity;

H.whereas Russia has systematically targeted and damaged over 1 700 Ukrainian cultural heritage sites and over 2 500 cultural infrastructure objects, including museums and archives, in violation of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict; whereas UNESCO has recorded damage to over 500 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine, notably as a result of repeated Russian missile and drone strikes; whereas these include sites of outstanding universal value, notably Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and the Historic Centre of Odesa, which has been inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger as a direct consequence of Russia’s war of aggression; whereas the deliberate destruction of cultural identity constitutes an additional dimension of the harm inflicted upon the Ukrainian people;

I.whereas Russia’s continued use of missiles and drones in the vicinity of nuclear facilities in Ukraine – including the Chernobyl exclusion zone, which has resulted in serious damage to the New Safe Confinement at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant – poses a grave and ongoing risk to nuclear safety and security;

J.whereas the EU has reaffirmed its commitment to full accountability for war crimes and other most serious crimes, has called for sustained efforts towards bringing into operation the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, and has also made a contribution of EUR 10 million to fund an advance team that will prepare the institutional, logistical and organisational foundations of the tribunal;

K.whereas on 16 December 2025, the EU signed the Council of Europe Convention establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine, with a view to enabling compensation for civilian victims; whereas the International Claims Commission for Ukraine is to be inaugurated on the sidelines of the 135th Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Chișinău on 14 May 2026; whereas the Register of Damage, established in 2023, serves as a record of eligible claims for compensation for damage inflicted by Russia and has been an essential tool in enabling Ukraine and its citizens to seek reparations under international law;

L.whereas in its judgment of 9 July 2025 in Ukraine and the Netherlands v Russia, the European Court of Human Rights held Russia accountable for widespread and flagrant abuses of human rights, in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, in the context of the conflict that began in eastern Ukraine in 2014, including the downing of flight MH17 in July 2014;

M.whereas any future ceasefire or peace process must not be allowed to impede, delay or undermine ongoing and future accountability processes; whereas accountability and peace are mutually reinforcing imperatives under international law;

1.Reiterates its condemnation, in the strongest possible terms, of Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, including its deliberate strikes on residential areas and civilian and critical infrastructure, and strongly condemns Russia’s recent vicious attacks against civilians in April 2026;

2.Reiterates its demand that Russia immediately, completely and unconditionally cease its attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, withdraw all military forces from Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory, end its forced deportations and illegal adoptions, cease its use of torture and inhumane treatment and release and return all detained, kidnapped and illegally adopted civilians;

3.Reaffirms its unwavering solidarity with the courageous people of Ukraine and its support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, and underlines Ukraine’s inherent right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter;

4.Underlines that Russia’s war of aggression constitutes a blatant violation of international law and the UN Charter, as well as an unprecedented attack on European security; underlines that the leaders of Russia and its allies must be held accountable for their roles in the crime of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other international crimes;

5.Notes with grave concern that the Russian state and its predecessor, the Soviet Union, have never been held to account for their crimes, including the Katyn Massacre – the historical truth of which Moscow is once again seeking to distort in direct contradiction to established evidence and its own prior admissions – and the mass deportation of entire nations to Siberia, thereby entrenching a culture of impunity that was continued with the war crimes committed during the First and Second Chechen Wars, through the Russian aggression against Georgia in 2008, through its military intervention in Syria, and, since 2014, in Ukraine, and that continues to enable further atrocities; considers that the continued glorification of figures such as the notorious founder of the Soviet security apparatus and architect of state terror, Felix Dzerzhinsky, including the recent naming of the academy of the Federal Security Service after him, and the systematic denial, distortion and even justification of crimes committed by the Soviet Union against occupied peoples and those inhabiting the territory of present-day Russian Federation constitute an explicit perpetuation of this culture of impunity and provide a clear indication of the values upheld by those in positions of power in Russia; considers, therefore, that the brutality perpetrated by Russia in Ukraine, driven by the political leadership and the highest military structures, with the support of significant segments of society, is systemic in nature and reflects a deeply entrenched imperialist policy that is inseparable from violence, repression and bloodshed; warns that unless decisive and enforceable accountability is ensured now, any expectation of future change would be not only unfounded, but dangerously naïve;

6.Deplores the fact that international efforts have not yet been sufficient to end Russia’s aggression; urges the EU, its Member States and its partners to intensify pressure on Russia and massively increase their military support to Ukraine, in particular in the area of air defence and deep strike capabilities, in order to protect Ukraine’s civilian population and critical infrastructure;

7.Commends the work of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine in investigating alleged violations and abuses of human rights, violations of international humanitarian law and related crimes, and welcomes the extension of its mandate; firmly rejects Russia’s claims that it exclusively targets military objectives; recalls the Commission of Inquiry’s findings that Russian forces have systematically targeted civilians and civilian objects;

8.Supports the establishment and rapid bringing into operation of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine and encourages all EU Member States to join it; welcomes the Netherlands’ commitment to hosting the initial phase of the Special Tribunal, and encourages intensified efforts to finalise the host offer for the second phase; calls for the EU and its Member States to continue supporting the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, ensure that it is brought into operation as soon as possible and advocate for broader international support for it;

9.Commends the crucial role played by Eurojust and its Joint Investigation Team in supporting accountability for crimes committed in Ukraine; calls on the Commission to ensure sustained funding for the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine beyond December 2026, ensuring that all evidence collected remains fully transferable to the future Special Tribunal;

10.Commends the Ukrainian and international civil society organisations documenting Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine and supporting victims and witnesses; welcomes the sustained support provided by the EU Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector Reform in Ukraine separately and within the framework of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, which plays a vital role in reinforcing accountability mechanisms;

11.Stresses that accountability must extend to all those in a position to direct or enable the crime of aggression, including senior political, military and judicial figures; underlines, in this regard, that such accountability should also extend to judges of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and members of the State Duma, whose decisions authorised the annexation of Ukrainian territories, thereby directly contributing to enabling the crime of aggression, prioritising those who bear the greatest responsibility;

12.Emphasises its full support for the International Criminal Court investigation into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed in Ukraine; recalls the Member States’ obligations, under the Rome Statute, to arrest and surrender any individuals subject to International Criminal Court arrest warrants who enter their territory; expresses utmost concern at the US sanctions against the International Criminal Court and its prosecutors, judges and staff, which undermine all its ongoing investigative and prosecutorial work and constitute a serious attack on the international justice system; calls on the Commission to urgently activate the blocking statute and on the Member States to urgently increase their diplomatic efforts to protect and safeguard the International Criminal Court as an indispensable cornerstone of the international justice system;

13.Denounces Russia’s export of stolen grain from occupied areas of Ukraine and underlines that its confiscation may constitute a war crime; calls for immediate action to halt the export and trade of the illegally confiscated grain;

14.Expresses its support for the EU becoming a full member of the International Claims Commission for Ukraine; calls on the Member States to swiftly complete all formal procedures for their accession and thus enable the International Claims Commission to begin its work quickly;

15.Underlines the need for the effective coordination of all accountability mechanisms with a view to avoiding duplication of efforts, ensuring efficiency and minimising the negative impact on victims and witnesses;

16.Calls on the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and on the Commission to set up an EU Delegation to the international organisations located in The Hague, which currently include the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, including with a view to ensuring that the EU participates effectively in the important new international bodies to be established there;

17.Welcomes the Council’s long-awaited approval of an EUR 90 billion EU loan for Ukraine; expects, in line with the clarifications provided by the Commission during the plenary session of February 2026, the proper implementation of the flexibility featured within the package under the derogation regime laid down in Article 13(5) of the regulation establishing the Ukraine Support Loan; reiterates its call to find legal ways to use the cash balances associated with the Russian sovereign assets immobilised under EU sanctions to support Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction, including through the provision of compensation under the International Claims Commission for Ukraine, and, among other priorities, to fund the restoration of the New Safe Confinement at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after it was damaged by Russian drone attacks;

18.Welcomes the adoption of the 20th sanctions package against Russia; notes the use of the anti-circumvention tool to block the diversion of exports of sensitive technologies via non-EU countries; insists that no sanctions should be lifted before a peace agreement is negotiated and sustainably implemented; calls for the EU and its Member States to systematically tackle the issue of sanctions circumvention;

19.Calls on the Council and the Commission to ensure that EU sanctions against Russia are strictly maintained and further expanded to cover all individuals and entities whose decisions have enabled or contributed to the commission of war crimes and other serious crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population;

20.Calls for the EU’s institutions and bodies, particularly the European External Action Service, to collaborate with the Ukrainian authorities and spearhead an active communication campaign across Europe and worldwide to raise awareness of the war crimes committed by Russia and its allies and build support for accountability and justice;

21.Reiterates that the unlawful deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law and a profound violation of human rights; welcomes the initiative of the Commission, together with Ukraine and Canada, to co-host a high-level meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children in Brussels in May 2026; calls on the Member States that have not yet joined the International Coalition to do so without delay;

22.Denounces Russia’s systematic attempts to erase Ukraine’s history, culture, language and identity; recalls that the scale of the destruction caused by Russia’s aggression remains severe and that, as of April 2026, direct damage to Ukraine’s cultural infrastructure and heritage is estimated at more than EUR 4 billion;

23.Underlines that the Russian war of aggression and the targeting of industrial and energy infrastructure has caused severe and long-lasting damage to Ukraine’s environment, including the destruction of ecosystems and the contamination of water and soil; calls for the EU and its Member States to support all initiatives documenting the environmental destruction caused by Russia’s war and to back efforts to secure accountability and compensation;

24.Reaffirms the EU’s steadfast commitment to the reconstruction of Ukraine and reiterates its readiness to contribute to rebuilding Ukraine’s economy and civil and critical infrastructure; stresses the strategic importance of the Ukraine Facility in reinforcing Ukraine’s resilience, accelerating its recovery and supporting its path toward sustainable development and EU membership;

25.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the President, Government and Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the United States Congress, the International Criminal Court and the Russian authorities.