117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7276 
AN ACT 
To direct the President to submit to Congress a report 
on United States Government efforts to collect, analyze, 
and preserve evidence and information related to war 
crimes and other atrocities committed during the full- 
scale Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 
2022, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ukraine Invasion War 
Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) in its premeditated, unprovoked, unjustified, 
and unlawful full-scale invasion of Ukraine that 
commenced on February 24, 2022, the military of 
the Government of the Russian Federation under 
the direction of President Vladimir Putin has com-
mitted war crimes that include but are not limited 
to— 
(A) the deliberate targeting of civilians and 
injuring or killing of noncombatants; 
(B) the deliberate targeting and attacking 
of hospitals, schools, and other non-military 
buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or 
charitable purposes, such as the bombing of a 
theater in Mariupol that served as a shelter for 
noncombatants and had the word ‘‘children’’ 
written clearly in the Russian language outside; 
(C) the indiscriminate bombardment of 
undefended dwellings and buildings; 
(D) the wanton destruction of property not 
justified by military necessity; 
(E) unlawful civilian deportations;
(F) the taking of hostages; and 
(G) rape, or sexual assault or abuse; 
(2) the use of chemical weapons by the Govern-
ment of the Russian Federation in Ukraine would 
constitute a war crime, and engaging in any military 
preparations to use chemical weapons or to develop, 
produce, stockpile, or retain chemical weapons is 
prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention, to 
which the Russian Federation is a signatory; 
(3) Vladimir Putin has a long record of com-
mitting acts of aggression, systematic abuses of 
human rights, and acts that constitute war crimes or 
other atrocities both at home and abroad, and the 
brutality and scale of these actions, including in the 
Russian Federation republic of Chechnya, Georgia, 
Syria, and Ukraine, demonstrate the extent to which 
his regime is willing to flout international norms and 
values in the pursuit of its objectives; 
(4) Vladimir Putin has previously sanctioned 
the use of chemical weapons at home and abroad, in-
cluding in the poisonings of Russian spy turned dou-
ble agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia and 
leading Russian opposition figure Aleksey Navalny, 
and aided and abetted the use of chemical weapons 
by President Bashar al-Assad in Syria; and
(5) in 2014, the Government of the Russian 
Federation initiated its unprovoked war of aggres-
sion against Ukraine which resulted in its illegal oc-
cupation of Crimea, the unrecognized declaration of 
independence by the so-called ‘‘Donetsk People’s Re-
public’’ and ‘‘Luhansk People’s Republic’’ by Rus-
sia-backed proxies, and numerous human rights vio-
lations and deaths of civilians in Ukraine. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence 
and information related to war crimes and other 
atrocities committed during the full-scale Russian 
invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24, 
2022, for use in appropriate domestic, foreign, and 
international courts and tribunals prosecuting those 
responsible for such crimes; 
(2) to help deter the commission of war crimes 
and other atrocities in Ukraine by publicizing to the 
maximum possible extent, including among Russian 
and other foreign military commanders and troops 
in Ukraine, efforts to identify and prosecute those 
responsible for the commission of war crimes during 
the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that 
began on February 24, 2022; and
(3) to continue efforts to identify, deter, and 
pursue accountability for war crimes and other 
atrocities committed around the world and by other 
perpetrators, and to leverage international coopera-
tion and best practices in this regard with respect to 
the current situation in Ukraine. 
SEC. 4. REPORT ON UNITED STATES EFFORTS. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, and consistent with the protection of 
intelligence sources and methods, the President shall sub-
mit to the appropriate congressional committees a report, 
which may include a classified annex, describing in detail 
the following: 
(1) United States Government efforts to collect, 
analyze, and preserve evidence and information re-
lated to war crimes and other atrocities committed 
during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine 
since February 24, 2022, including a description 
of— 
(A) the respective roles of various agencies, 
departments, and offices, and the interagency 
mechanism established for the coordination of 
such efforts; 
(B) the types of information and evidence 
that are being collected, analyzed, and pre-
served to help identify those responsible for the 
commission of war crimes or other atrocities 
during the full-scale Russian invasion of 
Ukraine in 2022; and 
(C) steps taken to coordinate with, and 
support the work of, allies, partners, inter-
national institutions and organizations, and 
nongovernmental organizations in such efforts. 
(2) Media, public diplomacy, and information 
operations to make Russian military commanders, 
troops, political leaders and the Russian people 
aware of efforts to identify and prosecute those re-
sponsible for the commission of war crimes or other 
atrocities during the full-scale Russian invasion of 
Ukraine in 2022, and of the types of acts that may 
be prosecutable. 
(3) The process for a domestic, foreign, or 
international court or tribunal to request and obtain 
from the United States Government information re-
lated to war crimes or other atrocities committed 
during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 
2022. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act:
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and the Perma-
nent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
House of Representatives; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Select 
Committee on Intelligence of the Senate. 
(2) ATROCITIES.—The term ‘‘atrocities’’ has 
the meaning given that term in section 6(2) of the 
Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act 
of 2018 (Public Law 115–441; 22 U.S.C. 2656 
note). 
(3) WAR CRIME.—The term ‘‘war crime’’ has 
the meaning given that term in section 2441(c) of 
title 18, United States Code. 
Passed the House of Representatives April 6, 2022. 
Attest: 
Clerk.