Amsterdam: The Netherlands will donate to the International Criminal Court (ICC) a mobile laboratory to carry out forensic research during the investigation of alleged war crimes in Ukraine, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said.
“The Netherlands announced the donation of a mobile laboratory for forensic research to the ICC. Crucial for forensic teams like ours who collect evidence of war crimes in Ukraine,” Ollongren wrote on Twitter after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at an air force base in the town of Soesterberg on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy arrived in the Netherlands to meet with a number of top-ranking Dutch officials, including the defense minister.
Last week, the Netherlands for the third time sent experts to Ukraine to investigate alleged war crimes, this time in cooperation with the Czech Republic. The first time a group of forensic experts from the Netherlands went to Ukraine under the auspices of the IСС in May 2022. The second visit took place late last year.
On March 2, 2022, the Office of the ICC Prosecutor started investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. On March 11, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said an investigative team had started gathering evidence.
Russian officials reject any allegations of committing war crimes, stating that rather, the military actions of the Ukrainian army in relation to the people living in the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, which Russia considers to be part of its own territory since referendums in September 2022, should be investigated.
