Investigators on Monday launched the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, a key step in investigating whether Russia’s war in Ukraine meets the legal definition of the crime of aggression. The center, based in The Hague, is tasked with providing a mechanism for officials to collect, analyze and share evidence of aggression — a crime beyond the jurisdiction of existing international courts — to help build cases for future trials.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
As war nears Crimea, Russian occupiers are trying to lure tourists: Tourism-dependent Crimea is looking ahead to a grim summer holiday season as the war grinds on, Francesca Ebel and Natalia Abbakumova report. Many visitors, concerned by recent attacks, are canceling their summer bookings to the Black Sea peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Crimea accounted for only 1 percent of Russian hotel bookings this year, according to the online portal Ostrovok.ru, down from 3 percent last year and 19 percent from the year before.
“There are indeed fewer people in Crimea than usual,” said Nikita Krimskiy, a tour guide in Yalta. “Many people were intimidated by military news and various ‘fakes.’ They have changed their plans and decided to not go to Crimea this season.” Some all-inclusive hotels have lowered their prices by as much as 60 percent. Others have simply decided not to open this summer. Sixty percent of Crimean tourism businesses lost money last year, official data shows, with combined losses of $10 million as tourist revenue dropped by about a third.
Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report.
