Ukrainian official accuses Russia of war crimes

OTTAWA: Ukraine's ambassador-designate to Canada says Russia must be held accountable for its troops committing sex crimes, including against children.

Yulia Kovaliv told a Canadian House of Commons committee on Monday that Russia is using sexual violence as a weapon of war and said rape and sexual assault must be investigated as war crimes.

She said Russia also has kidnapped Ukrainian children and taken them to Russian-occupied territories and now Russia itself.

Ukraine is working with partners to find the children and bring them back. "Russians, a few days ago, killed a young mother and taped her living child to her body and attached a mine between them," the ambassador said, adding that the mine detonated.

All of Russian society, and not just President Vladimir Putin "and his proxies," should bear responsibility for the war on Ukraine because more than 70 per cent of Russians support the invasion, Kovaliv said.