IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 192 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States 

condemns the Russian Government’s gross violations of international 

law amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, stands in 

solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and supports the efforts of international organizations to help people displaced by war and conflict. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 1, 2023 

Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself and Mr. CICILLINE) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the United States condemns the Russian Government’s 

gross violations of international law amounting to war 

crimes and crimes against humanity, stands in solidarity 

with the people of Ukraine, and supports the efforts 

of international organizations to help people displaced 

by war and conflict. 

Whereas the Government of Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, 

has engaged in an unprovoked military invasion of 

Ukraine and gross violations of international law amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•HRES 192 IH 

Whereas the law of armed conflict, also known as international humanitarian law, is a set of international rules 

regulating the conduct of armed conflict; 

Whereas the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols 

are the core of international humanitarian law, and many 

rules contained in these treaties are considered customary 

international law, binding on all states, whether or not 

they have ratified the treaties; 

Whereas Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine constitutes an 

international armed conflict governed by international 

humanitarian law as well as customary international humanitarian law; 

Whereas Article 51(2) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva 

Conventions, prohibits the targeting of civilians, as well 

as ‘‘acts or threats of violence, the primary purpose of 

which is to spread terror among the civilian population’’; 

Whereas Article 76 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva 

Conventions, states that women ‘‘shall be protected in 

particular against rape, forced prostitution, and any 

other form of indecent assault’’; 

Whereas Article 77 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva 

Conventions expresses that ‘‘children shall be the object 

of special respect and shall be protected against any form 

of indecent assault’’; 

Whereas, on June 19, 2008, the United Nations Security 

Council adopted Resolution 1820, noting that ‘‘rape and 

other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime, 

a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide’’, and calling for ‘‘prosecuting persons 

responsible for such acts’’; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•HRES 192 IH 

Whereas Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International 

Criminal Court defines ‘‘crimes against humanity’’ as 

acts such as murder, extermination, rape, persecution, 

and all other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, which are committed as 

part of a widespread or systematic attack directed 

against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack; 

Whereas Article 53 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva 

Conventions, prohibits committing any ‘‘acts of hostility 

directed against the historic monuments, works of art or 

places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples’’; 

Whereas Article 15 of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva 

Conventions, establishes that installations containing 

dangerous forces, including nuclear electrical generating 

stations, ‘‘shall not be made the object of attack, even 

where these objects are military objectives, if such attack 

may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population’’; 

Whereas, on February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation 

launched an unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine’s 

sovereign territory; 

Whereas, on February 25, 2022, the Russian Federation 

threatened Sweden and Finland with military and political repercussions if they joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance committed to the collective defense of members against attacks; 

Whereas, on February 28, 2022, the United Nations World 

Food Programme launched an emergency operation to 

provide food assistance for people fleeing Ukraine to 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•HRES 192 IH 

neighboring countries, an operation which is ongoing to 

this day and which has assisted between 2,000,000 and 

3,000,000 Ukrainians per month during each month of 

the war; 

Whereas, in late February 2022, the North Atlantic Treaty 

Organization began its ongoing effort to help coordinate 

Ukraine’s requests for assistance and to support Allies in 

the delivery of humanitarian aid; 

Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a Russian airstrike hit Kyiv’s 

main television tower, damaging broadcasting infrastructure, killing at least 5 people, and injuring others; 

Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a Russian airstrike targeted 

Freedom Square in Kharkiv, as cars were stopped at a 

traffic light on their morning commute; 

Whereas Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized Russia’s airstrike on Freedom Square on March 

1, 2022, as a ‘‘war crime’’; 

Whereas, on March 1, 2022, at the United Nations Human 

Rights Council, Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Russia for killing civilians, striking ‘‘schools, hospitals and residential buildings’’ in Ukraine; 

Whereas, on March 1, 2022, Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, announced that a Russian missile hit the location of the Babyn Yar Holocaust 

Memorial complex in Kyiv, a place where thousands of 

Jewish people were killed between 1941 and 1943; 

Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a Russian missile hit Freedom 

Square in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine, causing severe 

damage to an opera house, concert hall, and government 

offices; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•HRES 192 IH 

Whereas, on March 1, 2022, President Zelenskyy expressed 

to the European Parliament, ‘‘we are fighting for our 

rights, for our freedoms, for life, for our life, and now we 

are fighting for survival’’; 

Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a global spokesperson for the 

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 

(UNHCR), Shabia Mantoo, announced that the UNHCR 

would begin coordinating a refugee response plan with 

other United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organization partners, in support of national authorities 

helping people fleeing Ukraine, a response plan which includes almost 250 partner organizations and which has 

assisted millions of Ukrainians over course of the past 

year; 

Whereas, on March 1, 2022, the United Nations and humanitarian partners launched coordinated emergency appeals 

to urgently deliver humanitarian support to people in 

Ukraine and refugees in neighboring countries; 

Whereas United States ambassador to the United Nations 

Linda Thomas-Greenfield expressed to the United Nations on March 2, 2022, that videos showed Russian 

forces moving lethal weaponry into Ukraine, including 

cluster munitions and vacuum bombs, which are banned 

under the Geneva Conventions; 

Whereas, on March 2, 2022, Ukraine’s foreign ministry reported that a Russian missile strike destroyed the 

Pavlusenko maternity hospital; 

Whereas, on March 2, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia 

for its military invasion of Ukraine and demanded that 

the Russian Federation immediately, completely, and unVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:57 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR192.IH HR192

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
6 

•HRES 192 IH 

conditionally withdraw all its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized 

borders, a vote which was repeated by the UNGA on 

February 23, 2023, and which once again overwhelmingly 

condemned the Russian Federation; 

Whereas, on March 3, 2022, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy 

accused Russian forces of ‘‘nuclear terror’’ because ‘‘Russian tanks are shooting at the nuclear blocks’’ in the 

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe’s largest nuclear power station; 

Whereas, on March 3, 2022, the United States embassy in 

Ukraine called the Russian attack on the Ukrainian nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia a ‘‘war crime’’; 

Whereas, on March 4, 2022, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign 

Affairs accused Russian soldiers of raping women in 

Ukrainian cities; 

Whereas, on March 5, 2022, the World Health Organization 

confirmed several Russian attacks on health care centers 

in Ukraine, causing multiple deaths and injuries; 

Whereas, on March 6, 2022, in response to Russian attacks 

on Ukrainian health care facilities, the Director-General 

of the World Health Organization expressed that ‘‘attacks on healthcare facilities or workers breach medical 

neutrality and are violations of international humanitarian law’’; 

Whereas, on March 6, 2022, the UNHCR stated that Russia’s war in Ukraine had created the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II; 

Whereas, on April 3, 2022, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister 

Iryna Vereshchuk announced that Russian troops occupying the Ukrainian village of Motyzhyn had kidnaped, 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
7 

•HRES 192 IH 

tortured, and killed the village’s mayor, Olga Sukhenko, 

Sukhenko’s husband, and Sukhenko’s son before disposing of their bodies in a shallow grave; 

Whereas, on April 4, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr 

Zelenskyy characterized Russian troops’ actions in 

Bucha, Ukraine, as ‘‘genocide’’ and ‘‘war crimes’’ when 

the bodies of over 400 executed civilians were discovered 

in the city, with many of these bodies displaying visible 

signs of torture; 

Whereas, on April 8, 2022, a Russian cluster munition strike 

on the train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, killed 58 civilians, many of whom were gathered at the train station 

to board evacuation trains and flee the ongoing fighting; 

Whereas, on May 12, 2022, the United Nations Human 

Rights Council adopted a resolution expressing ‘‘deep 

concern at the grave human rights and humanitarian situation in the city of Mariupol, the near total destruction 

of its residential and civilian infrastructure caused by 

Russian bombing and shelling, reports of tens of thousands of civilian casualties and of mass graves near the 

city, and the limited progress in securing safe and 

unhindered evacuations to safe areas under the control of 

the government of Ukraine’’; 

Whereas, on October 18, 2022, the Independent International 

Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine published a report 

stating that ‘‘the Commission has found that war crimes 

and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been committed in Ukraine since 24 February 2022. Russian armed forces are responsible for the 

vast majority of the violations identified’’; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
8 

•HRES 192 IH 

Whereas, on October 18, 2022, the Independent International 

Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine’s report revealed that 

‘‘the Commission documented patterns of summary executions, unlawful confinement, torture, ill-treatment, and 

rape and other sexual violence committed in areas occupied by Russian armed forces across the four [Ukrainian] 

provinces on which [the Commission’s inquiry] focused. 

People have been detained, some have been unlawfully deported to the Russian Federation, and many are still reported missing. Sexual violence has affected victims of all 

ages. Victims, including children, were sometimes forced 

to witness the crimes’’; 

Whereas, as of January 31, 2023, the UNHCR asserts that, 

as a result of the war in Ukraine, more than 8,000,000 

Ukrainian refugees have been recorded across Europe 

and approximately 17,600,000 people remain in need of 

urgent humanitarian assistance inside Ukraine; and 

Whereas, on February 14, 2023, the Ukraine Conflict Observatory, which was launched by the Department of 

State, found, using data from the Yale School of Public 

Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab, that the Russian 

Government is operating an expansive network of ‘‘reeducation camps’’ where it has held thousands of Ukrainian children since the start of the war, with the primary 

purpose of these camps being the ‘‘political re-education’’ 

of Ukrainian children: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) forcefully condemns the continued use of 

3 unlawful and indiscriminate violence against civilian 

4 populations by the Government of Russia, its allies, 

5 and any other parties to the conflict; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
9 

•HRES 192 IH 

1 (2) urges that the global community hold Vladi2 mir Putin and the Russian Government accountable 

3 for war crimes committed during the military inva4 sion of Ukraine; 

5 (3) urges the United States and its allies to 

6 continue providing defense security assistance and 

7 humanitarian aid to Ukraine as Ukrainians valiantly 

8 defend themselves against Russia’s military invasion; 

9 (4) supports the continued use of sanctions 

10 against Russia and its allies until Russia ends its 

11 military invasion and unequivocally recognizes 

12 Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and po13 litical independence; 

14 (5) urges the United States to maintain support 

15 for international organizations, such as the United 

16 Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, helping 

17 Ukrainians fleeing conflict as well as the over 

18 100,000,000 people around the world who are forc19 ibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, 

20 and human rights violations; 

21 (6) urges the United States to treat all forcibly 

22 displaced people with dignity and abide by the Pro23 tocol Related to the Status of Refugees, ratified by 

24 the Senate in 1968, and thereafter considered the 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
10 

•HRES 192 IH 

1 ‘‘supreme Law of the Land’’ under article VI, sec2 tion 2 of the Constitution; 

3 (7) urges the United States and members of the 

4 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to 

5 meet NATO’s funding needs to ensure the ability to 

6 provide collective defense and innovation; 

7 (8) urges NATO to maintain its commitment to 

8 innovating and work towards solving and dealing 

9 with emerging and disruptive technologies; and 

10 (9) stands in solidarity with the people of 

11 Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom and de12 mocracy, Slava Ukraini, glory to Ukraine. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB