EU justice chief Kaja Kallas visits Eurojust to review Ukraine accountability work

• 2026-10-24
• Europe
• News Desk
• Source: Eurojust https://www.eurojust.europa.eu/news/hrvp-kaja-kallas-visits-eurojust-discuss-accountability-efforts-ukraine

European Union High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas visited the EU's criminal justice cooperation agency Eurojust on Monday to review efforts to hold perpetrators of core international crimes in Ukraine accountable, the Hague-based agency said. Eurojust President Michael Schmid briefed her on the results of the work, including more than 13,000 evidence files gathered from 17 countries.

Key facts

What did Kallas discuss at Eurojust?

• Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation based in The Hague, hosted EU High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas for a visit focused on accountability for crimes committed in Ukraine.
• More than 13,000 evidence files from 17 countries have been submitted to Eurojust's Core International Crimes Evidence Database (CICED), according to President Michael Schmid.
• Eurojust helped set up a joint investigation team (JIT) three weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
• The joint investigation team has backed national investigations in Ukraine and Lithuania, including one that led to the extradition of a Russian soldier to Lithuania over suspected torture at Melitopol airport.
• Eurojust also supports the EU Freeze and Seize Task Force, created by the European Commission in March 2022 to enforce sanctions against listed Russian and Belarusian oligarchs.

According to Eurojust, Kallas met Schmid as well as members of the joint investigation team and of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA), the judicial hub where prosecutors and investigators from different countries work side by side. ICPA members stressed the importance of cross-border cooperation in handling complex investigations and evidence scattered across Europe.

Schmid set out the concrete results the agency says have already been achieved. Beyond the 13,000-plus files in CICED, he pointed to the joint investigation team's support for several national proceedings in Ukraine and Lithuania. How is evidence from Ukraine being preserved?

Eurojust moved quickly after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, helping to establish the joint investigation team within three weeks of the attack, which the agency describes as laying the groundwork for wider judicial cooperation across borders. The effort later grew into the ICPA and CICED, which is designed to preserve, store and analyse key evidence for use in prosecutions.

One case cited during the visit involved the extradition of a Russian soldier to Lithuania in connection with the suspected torture of Ukrainian and Lithuanian citizens at Melitopol airport. The agency said the joint investigation team had supported multiple national investigations in the two countries. What role does Eurojust play on sanctions and hybrid threats?

The visit also underlined Eurojust's work with the EU Freeze and Seize Task Force, which the European Commission set up in March 2022 to make sure EU sanctions against listed Russian and Belarusian oligarchs are applied consistently across the bloc. Eurojust says it has been helping national authorities investigate sanctions violations and facilitating the confiscation of criminal assets.

Kallas and her hosts also discussed hybrid threats, including drone-related incidents, which Eurojust described as a growing security concern across Europe. The agency said it already provides operational support to numerous investigations into such incidents and helps national authorities tackle common legal and practical problems, including questions of jurisdiction, evidence collection and prosecution. What happens next?

The agency's work on Ukraine relies on cooperation between national prosecutors and investigators, and the evidence stored in CICED is intended to feed into national and international proceedings as they move forward. Eurojust gave no further timetable for the ICPA's work or for the cases it supports.

Source: Eurojust