A new bipartisan resolution submitted in the U.S. Congress aims to formally recognize Russia’s war against Ukraine as genocide.
On January 6, 2025, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers submitted a draft resolution aimed at labeling Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine as genocide. This was one of the first bills presented to the new Congress. The resolution, which was publicly acknowledged by Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, seeks to hold Russia accountable for the actions of its military forces and political leadership.
The draft resolution argues that Russia’s actions against the Ukrainian population meet the criteria set forth in Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention. It details several actions by Russian forces that are being described as genocidal, including the intentional targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, systematic sexual violence against Ukrainian men, women, and children, and the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
In her Facebook post, Ambassador Markarova emphasized the importance of holding Russian leaders and military officials accountable. She stated that the crimes committed by Russia must be reflected in U.S. law in order to ensure that those responsible are punished and that similar atrocities are prevented in the future.
Markarova also highlighted the scale of the crimes, with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office reporting over 170,000 cases related to Russia’s aggression, including more than 150,000 cases specifically for war crimes.
The draft resolution calls on the U.S. government to condemn Russia for these actions and to support international jurisdiction efforts aimed at prosecuting those responsible. This includes backing the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) efforts, which earlier in 2023 issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, a Russian official accused of overseeing the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
