On Thursday, Austria announced it had joined the group of states working on creating a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine.

 "I’m grateful to Austria for joining the coalition of countries working to establish the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine. 33 states are already part of the Core Group. As the number grows, so does trust that Russia’s leadership will be held to account," Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote on Twitter.

I’m grateful to Austria for joining the coalition of countries working to establish the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine. 33 states are already part of the Core Group. As the number grows, so does trust that Russia’s leadership will be held to account.

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 16, 2023

A week ago, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reported that the number of countries participating in the group had increased to 30 after Greece joined. Later, two more countries announced their participation in the group.

The first meeting of the group took place on 26 January, with 21 countries taking part in the discussion at that time. The second meeting of the coalition will be held in Strasbourg on 21-22 March.

On 2 March last year, the International Criminal Court launched an investigation of possible crimes committed in Ukraine. A joint investigation group was created comprising several European judicial bodies in order to collect evidence of Russia's war crimes in Ukraine.

While the ICC can consider war crimes committed by individuals, it has no jurisdiction to prosecute the crime of aggression. Due to this fact, Ukraine is promoting the idea of establishing a special tribunal against Russia.