Overview
- Russia’s Prosecutor General charged 41 current and former Ukrainian officials in absentia under Article 357, saying the offense carries up to life imprisonment.
- Arrest warrants were issued for all 41 accused, and Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ordered pre-trial detention in absentia pending extradition, which prosecutors called unlikely.
- The case was referred for trial on the merits to the Donetsk/DPR Supreme Court, according to Russian authorities.
- The International Court of Justice ruled 11–4 to accept Russia’s counterclaims under the Genocide Convention as part of the Ukraine v. Russia case and set filing deadlines of 7 December 2026 for Ukraine and 7 December 2027 for Russia.
- The indictment alleges that since 2014 nearly 5,000 civilians were killed and 13,500 injured in Donetsk and Luhansk, with a significant population decline reported, and there was no immediate response from Kyiv.