If you have information about possible war crimes related to the war in Ukraine, especially if you are a victim or an eyewitness, you can contact any police station. There they will ask you for information using a form with questions (in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German). They will then forward this information to the responsible authorities.

War crimes can be prosecuted in Germany even if they were committed by foreigners outside of Germany.

Under German law, war crimes may include the following, for example:

• attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure such as residential areas, railway stations, hospitals, oil depots, gas pipelines, (nuclear) power plants, storage facilities for radioactive waste, etc.;
• aggression (hostage-taking, torture, rape or other mistreatment) or executions of civilians or prisoners of war by combat units;
• large-scale looting or destruction of property;
• interference with humanitarian aid;
• use of special kinds of bombs, such as cluster bombs, vacuum bombs, chemical or biological weapons.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened a referral portal in English at icc-cpi.int/. There you can also provide information about war crimes in connection with the current conflict.

The German police thank you for your information and assistance!

Your information helps
Every photo, every smartphone video and every even small piece of information can help to bring those responsible for committing heinous crimes to justice. The prosecutor general of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, and Dr. Marco Buschmann, Federal Minister of Justice, call for support in the clarification of war crimes in Ukraine in this video.

Help for victims of crime
The Information sheet for victims of crime issued by the Federal Ministry of Justice gives victims of crimes, including serious crimes in accordance with the German Code of Crimes against International Law (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch), an initial overview of where they can find help in this Code and what rights they have.

Call for witnesses of war crimes committed in Ukraine PDF, 2 MB, not barrier-free