International Human Rights Clinic Submits Legal Memorandum to Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General

Russia’s Aerial Attacks on Ukraine Amount to Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes, Perpetrators Must Be Held Accountable, According to Clinic’s Factual Investigation and Legal Analysis 

May 2, 2025

The International Human Rights Clinic (“IHRC”) at Harvard Law School, in collaboration with International Partnership for Human Rights (“IPHR”), has submitted a Legal Memorandum to Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General demonstrating that Russia’s aerial attacks amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Memorandum supports accountability efforts for violations of international law committed in Ukraine over the past three years, providing a novel analytical framework to demonstrate that perpetrators of drone and missile strikes acted with the necessary intent. A public version is available as a report, Airstrikes and Atrocities: A Legal Assessment of Russia’s Aerial Campaign in Ukraine. 

IPHR has documented over 24,000 attacks on Ukrainian civilians and objects since Russia launched its full-scale invasion three years ago. Over the last 18 months, IHRC and IPHR have conducted extensive factual and legal research on the pattern and scale of Russian aerial attacks. The Memorandum identifies and analyzes 22 specific attacks, focusing on two distinct patterns: (1) attacks on critical energy infrastructure, including electrical grids and power plants, during cold winter months, and (2) year-round attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including densely populated urban areas, residential buildings, hospitals, schools, and cultural objects.  

As IPHR’s Lead of the Ukraine Legal Team, Anastaysia Donets LLM ‘24, explained, “The cases analyzed by the clinical team, along with broader patterns and official statements, reveal Russia’s unchanged ultimate goal: to erase Ukrainian nationhood and identity. This sobering conclusion could not be more timely, as peace talks advance. Ignoring this reality risks prolonging violence, eroding international law, and enabling future atrocities.” 

Russia executed its attacks pursuant to its State policy of “total war,” which aims to demoralize Ukraine’s civilian population and dismantle civilian life as a means of securing victory. Alarmingly, these attacks have only escalated with the war’s progression. According to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Russian aerial assaults increased by 30% from 2023 to 2024, leading to destruction so severe that experts now classify it as “urbicide.”  

The Memorandum draws its legal framework from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the most authoritative statement of international criminal law, to which Ukraine is a State Party. It concludes that Russia’s aerial attacks rise to the level of the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, persecution, and other inhumane acts. It demonstrates that these attacks were part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population, inflicting not only immediate devastation but also long-term, reverberating effects on Ukrainians.  

The Memorandum also establishes that Russia has committed five war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians, civilian objects, and specially protected objects, intentionally launching disproportionate attacks, and intentionally using starvation as a method of warfare. 

“Russia’s war on Ukraine is not just an aggressive war to take territory,” said Julia Kepczynska, JD ’26. “It is a war to destroy and eliminate the Ukrainian nation and its existence as a sovereign state.” 

The Memorandum constructs an analytical framework to demonstrate Russian officials’ intent to commit these crimes. To date, no international tribunal has held individual perpetrators responsible for crimes against humanity or war crimes resulting from unlawful drone and missile attacks.  

Drawing upon a vast array of evidence—including statements from Russian officials, Russia’s use of highly precise weapons, and persistent patterns of attack—the Memorandum establishes that Russian officials acted with the knowledge and intent necessary to constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.  

“The Clinic’s work doesn’t just demand accountability,” explained Susan Farbstein, the Clinic’s Director, “but also advances the development of international law to make accountability possible, by addressing modern technologies of warfare like long-range missiles and drones.”  

Ten clinical students have contributed more than 2,000 hours of work to prepare the Memorandum—from researching and documenting specific attacks and the technical specifications of particular weapons, to analyzing and applying legal frameworks, to formulating and constructing arguments, to drafting the document.  

Reflecting on the project’s significance, Oceania Eshraghi, JD ’25 highlighted “the real-world impact that the [Clinic’s] work is having on people who are personally affected by the conflict,” noting it “makes me even more grateful to be a part of this team.”  

The Memorandum will bolster truth-seeking efforts as well as domestic legal processes that are advancing in parallel with investigations at the International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Russian officials in connection with aerial attacks against civilian objects and energy infrastructure.