Speech by High representative/Vice-President Kaja Kallas at the EP plenary on Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine

Check against delivery!  Opening Remarks President,  Honourable Members of the European Parliament,Three years ago, videos and photos began to emerge showing the bodies of civilians scattered along Yablunska Street in the town of Bucha, Ukraine. Children fleeing with their families, locals shopping for groceries, people trying to get back home on their bicycles. It [was] once was the case – from Bosnia to Sri Lanka – that a single photo or video could expose wartime atrocities. In Bucha, the evidence is overwhelming.  From photos to phone records and decoded call signs used by commanders on Russian radio channels. There is no denying it.  We know exactly who the perpetrators are.  With the technology we have at our fingertips today, impunity for war crimes is frankly impossible, so long as we put the work in it. And that is what we must do, because the number of possible crimes committed in this war is simply beyond belief.  The forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children is one of the gravest crimes committed and an extreme violation of human rights, but the impact on children at home in Ukraine is also devastating. According to Save the Children, approximately 4 million school-aged children have experienced educational interruptions since the full-scale war began. Close to four thousand education institutions have been damaged; more than 10% of the country’s education infrastructure has been completely destroyed.  Attacks on health facilities have endangered...