Dear Chair, and dear members of the committee, I am humbled to speak before you on behalf of Amnesty International. Thank you for this opportunity.
Our organization has been working tirelessly to document the human rights cost of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. We have conducted both on-the-ground, and open-source research and spoken to dozens of survivors from various parts of Ukraine affected by the armed conflict.
First and foremost, I would like to stress that our organization considers the Russian invasion as an act of aggression violating the UN Charter, which is a crime under international law. It's important for the international community to work out a mechanism to hold accountable those responsible for this crime. We fear that the failure to do so will embolden others to follow Russia's current leadership's malicious example.
Russia's track record in past conflicts was abhorrent and our findings in Ukraine have confirmed our worst fears. From the very first days of invasion, Russian armed forces have been using weapons unsuitable for warfare in densely populated areas, using multiple launch rocket systems, unguided bombs and cluster munitions.
As Russia failed to advance quickly in Kyiv's direction, it engaged in ugly siege tactics, encircling such cities like Mariupol, Chernihiv, Izium and others, using its arsenal of indiscriminate weapons and killing civilians as a result. Several such attacks have been thoroughly verified and documented by Amnesty International and we can confirm that those attacks may amount to war crimes.
We have also been continuously raising concerns about the failures to establish safe humanitarian corridors for civilians. The situation has improved somewhat over time, and some, but not all, civilians have been able to leave besieged cities. I would like to stress that evacuation of, or delivery of humanitarian aid to, older people and people with disabilities remains a major concern. Those groups end up in extremely dangerous conditions and are virtually helpless.
Russian forces have been able to take control of several cities in Ukraine's south. They have been met with brave peaceful resistance from the civilian population. There have been multiple concerning reports of beatings and torture and threats towards peaceful protesters as well as abductions of local officials, journalists and activists. Our researchers are currently verifying those reports and we plan to publish our findings in the nearest future.
As reported by the UN, four million people have fled Ukraine. Even more have been displaced within the country. The international community must help in addressing this unprecedented crisis by sharing the responsibility and helping people fleeing to safety.
The resolution to this armed conflict will not be easy, but now more than ever the international community must stand united in its commitment to protect human rights and condemn the tyranny. Those affected by the armed conflict in Ukraine must receive the necessary protection, and in the long-term perspective everyone responsible for the war crimes and the crime of aggression, of course, must be held accountable.
Thank you.