British, Lithuanian MPs say Russian attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure genocidal war crimes

That’s according to British and Lithuanian MPs who spoke with Guildhall, Ukrinform reports.

British lawmaker from the House of Commons Roger Gale said: “It is clear to me that Putin is losing the ground war and therefore his attention to the prospect of attacking innocent civilians across Ukraine. Its goal is to try to disrupt lines of supply and communication, all the infrastructure that is servicing Ukrainian people that they will need for that for probably a long, cold winter. This is an innocent killing civilians, because his army is failing. That clearly are war crimes, and that is not proper.”

“I understand that entirely, that thousands of people could die without electricity. The West can continue supply Ukraine with defensive weapons and offensive weapons, we can help you to defend yourselves, we can try to provide the air-defense systems that will take out the drones in used to attack you. We are already doing that and will continue doing that,” the member of parliament added.

“Russian strikes on critical infrastructure, throughout Ukraine, it is tantamount to a genocide and may yet turn into a genocide of Ukrainians,” he stressed.

In turn, Lithuanian legislator Paulius Saudargas said Lithuania was one of the first countries to recognize Russia’s war against Ukraine “as a genocide and the atrocities committed by Russian army as war crimes.”

“Lithuanian parliament was the first parliament to describe Russia as a terrorist state. The resolution initiated by me and other colleagues passed unanimously in Lithuanian parliament, without any abstentions. The document also stressed that all perpetrators must be held accountable and that the international community must establish a Special International Criminal Tribunal to investigate and assess Russia’s crimes,” Saudargas noted.

Russia’s tactics have not changed so far since the beginning of its aggression, the parliamentarian said. “Lithuania’s and my personal position has not changed as well – Russia’s attacks on critical infrastructure of Ukraine are definitely war crimes and genocide of Ukrainian people. There is only one possible effective response – democratic countries must promptly provide Ukraine with adequate air defense, anti-missile and anti-drone systems.”

"I fully agree with the statement of the Ukrainian minister Dmytro Kuleba and European Commission President Ms. Von der Leyen, that Russian strikes on the critical infrastructure are a form of genocide against Ukrainians and could be called as war crimes"

Earlier, the head of the Center for Defense Reforms, coordinator of the interdepartmental platform for countering hybrid threats, which operates within the framework of Ukraine-NATO cooperation, Oleksandr V. Danylyuk said that as a response to Russian missile terrorism, the West should transfer to Ukraine F-16 fighter jets and long-range early warning aircraft.