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ConflictsUkraine

EU underscores need for Russian war crimes tribunal

04:25

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Teri Schultz in Bucha, Ukraine
March 31, 2026

Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, tells DW such a tribunal was important to document the "war crimes committed on the soil of Ukraine" and to hold the leaders who sent soldiers to kill innocent civilians accountable.

Kaja Kallas spoke to DW in Bucha, a town near Kyiv where the Russian army is accused of killing hundreds of civilians during a month of occupation at the beginning of its war in Ukraine. Mass graves were discovered when the Ukrainian Army liberated the city on March 31, 2022.

Below is an excerpt from the interview.

DW: How much can you, how much can the EU pressure Russia if the United States does not bring more to bear on Moscow?

Kaja Kallas: Well, we definitely have our tools in our hands. And we are putting the pressure on Russia because there is one aggressor and one victim. It's very clear for us, in order to have a just and lasting peace, you need to have concessions on the aggressor side because the victim has not done anything wrong to start this war. If we don't want new wars starting, if we want this war to end, we have to really get concessions from the aggressor side.

Watch Teri Schulz's full interview with Kaja Kallas above.

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