Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said on Thursday that Greece will request the investigation of war crimes in Mariupol from the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Upon his arrival at the Summit of NATO Foreign Ministers, which is meeting for the second day in Brussels, Dendias stated: “Greece is going to ask the International Court of Justice in The Hague to investigate crimes conducted in Mariupol.”
“Greece has a specific, special interest in Mariupol, because of the existence of a Greek community of 100,000 and more people in Mariupol.
“Apart from that, I am going to ask my colleagues in the Alliance to try our best to help Ukraine and protect Odessa, so that Odessa can avoid the fate of Mariupol.”
Statistics released by Ukrainian officials on Sunday paint a grim picture of what has come from weeks of shelling and urban combat in the Greek-founded port city.
Some 90% of residential buildings in the city were damaged, the data shows. Of those, 60% were hit directly and 40% were destroyed.
Seven of the city’s hospitals — 90% of the city’s hospital capacity — were damaged, of which three were destroyed. Also damaged were three maternity hospitals (one destroyed), seven institutes of higher education (three destroyed), and 57 schools and 70 kindergartens, with 23 and 28 destroyed, respectively.
A number of factories were damaged and the city’s port sustained damage.
According to those official statistics, up to 140,000 people left the city before it was surrounded, and around 150,000 managed to leave during the blockade. Ukrainian officials claim 30,000 people from the city were deported to Russia.
READ MORE: Panagiotopoulos rejects Nuland’s request for more Greek weapon systems to be delivered to Ukraine.
