BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - A total of around 133,000 cases of Russian war crimes
in Ukraine are currently under investigation, Klaus Hoffmann, the
German advisor to the Ukrainian prosecutor general, has said in
remarks published on Sunday.

The figure was 'a huge increase,' Hoffmann told the Neue Osnabrücke
Zeitung. 'Many of them are extremely comprehensively documented,' he
added.

The figure is up from 56,000 cases at the end of 2022.

Hoffmann pointed to Russia aerial attacks on civilian targets and
forced adoptions of Ukrainian children as examples of war crimes.

While not wishing to pre-empt a legal judgement, he expressed the
personal view that the Russian actions 'can only be described as
terrorism against the civilian population.'

Many of the alleged crimes had been documented by the Russians
themselves, as the commanding officers responsible received awards
for their work.

Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, Hoffmann has served as
advisor to the Ukrainian prosecutor general. He is currently on
secondment from the state prosecutor's office in the German state of
Baden-Württemberg.

He previously worked for the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia in The Hague.


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