ICC prosecutor seeks investigation into Ukraine war crimes -statement

FILE PHOTO: Public Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda attends the trial for Malian Islamist militant Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud at the ICC (International Criminal Court) in the Hague, the Netherlands July 8,2019. REUTERS/Eva Plevier/Pool

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday said she would seek permission to open a formal investigation into whether war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed during the Ukraine conflict.

Fatou Bensouda, whose office has been conducting an examination into possible atrocities in the conflict in eastern Ukraine at the invitation of Kyiv since 2014, said she had "reasonable basis to believe that a broad range of conduct constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed" during the conflict.