Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on June 25 signed an accord with the Council of Europe to establish a special tribunal to try top officials responsible for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The tribunal will prosecute the "crime of aggression" in the invasion and could try senior Russian politicians all the way up to President Vladimir Putin.
"Every war criminal must know there will be justice and that also applies to Russia," said Zelenskyy after signing the accord in Strasbourg with Council of Europe secretary general Alain Berset.
"It will take strong political and legal courage to make sure every Russian war criminal faces justice, including Putin," Zelenskyy told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe after signing the accord.
“We must send a clear message: aggression leads to punishment. And we must do this together -- as all of Europe," he said later on X.
The tribunal’s mandate will be to prosecute senior political and military leaders for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, the Council of Europe said.
“This crime refers to the decision to use armed force against another state, in violation of the UN Charter,” the council said.
Belarusians or North Koreans could potentially be prosecuted if evidence shows they played a significant role in the crime of aggression against Ukraine, it added.
Berset said international law “must apply to all, with no exceptions and no double standards." He said the Council of Europe hopes the tribunal will be able to start work next year. It has not yet been decided where the tribunal would be based.
This is the first time such a tribunal has been set up under the oversight of the Council of Europe, the continent's top rights body.
The 46-member Council of Europe is not part of the EU and members include key non-EU European states such as Turkey, the UK and Ukraine. Russia was expelled in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy traveled to Strasbourg from The Hague, where he met with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
He hailed the "long and substantive" meeting and thanked Trump and the United States for its support in Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion.
“We discussed how to achieve a cease-fire and a real peace," Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Trump said Zelenskyy "couldn't have been nicer" when they met. The 50-minute meeting was the first encounter between the two men since they talked at the Vatican two months ago.
"I had a good meeting with Zelenskyy," Trump said. "He's fighting a brave battle. It's a tough battle."
Zelenskyy said he and Trump discussed the purchase of American air defense systems, and Trump appeared amenable to helping Ukraine obtain more Patriot air defense systems.
"We're going to see if we can make some available," Trump said. "They're very hard to get," he added.
