Ruslan Khomchak: Recognizing the aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine as an act of genocide is a safeguard against the repetition of such atrocities in the future

Recognizing the aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine as an act of genocide is a safeguard against the repetition of such atrocities in the future.

This was stated by First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, speaking on Friday as part of the National Round Table on the topic "Genocide of the Ukrainian Nation: russia's armed aggression against Ukraine", organized by the Research Institute of Lawmaking and scientific and legal expertise of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine together with the National Association of Researchers of the Holodomor-Genocide of Ukrainians with the support of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Ruslan Khomchak emphasized that the aggressor denies the existence of Ukraine as a state, its spiritual and historical values, language and traditions. According to the latest data, he said, the occupiers killed more than 8,000 peaceful citizens of Ukraine, including 466 children, deported more than 19,000 children from the occupied territories, used torture, shelled the civilian population, and tried to destroy the critical infrastructure of Ukraine.

"All these are integral components of the crime, which the  Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines as genocide," said First Deputy Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine.

Ruslan Khomchak emphasized that the temporary occupation of Crimea and the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and later a full-scale war against Ukraine, is not only an aggression against our state, but also a violation of the principles of international law. "Each crime of the enemy, which did not receive a legal assessment and was not punished, provoked dozens and hundreds of new crimes based on the feeling of impunity," he said.

First Deputy Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine expressed his gratitude to scientists and public representatives for their work on recording, qualifying and researching russian crimes in Ukraine, noting that thanks to this painstaking work, russian atrocities in Ukraine were recognized as an act of genocide by the parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Canada, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Ireland .