Military — 2026-06-10

Ukraine Establishes Directorate for Battlefield War Crimes Evidence Collection Within Military Law Enforcement Service

BLUFBy embedding forensic chain-of-custody standards directly into its battlefield command platform, Ukraine is constructing the evidentiary foundation that will define the scope of any future aggression tribunal prosecutions.

Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi signed an order on May 14 establishing unified standards for collecting, processing, and preserving data on IHL violations identified during combat and special operations 12. All records are to be entered in the Delta Integration Platform, with the Military Law Enforcement Service designated as the coordinating body 123. The Directorate for Documenting Violations of the Law of Armed Conflict operates within MLES; Ukrainska Pravda describes the initiative as backed by Syrskyi, Defence Minister Fedorov, and MLES head Levchenko, with Syrskyi as the signing authority rather than Fedorov as authorizing official 4. A preceding pilot within the Unmanned Systems Forces documented 99 alleged war crimes over several months using the same Delta-based methodology, providing the operational proof of concept behind the systemwide order 3.

Analysis
Converting Delta into a forensic chain-of-custody system removes the primary barrier to admissible battlefield evidence, giving the Special Tribunal a collection architecture for prosecution-grade records from active combat zones, with Syrskyi's official Telegram as the sole primary source and the remaining coverage secondary amplification. The Unmanned Systems Forces pilot, which documented 99 alleged crimes under the same methodology, validates unit-level compliance under operational conditions. MLES placement bridges frontline units and criminal justice without expanding civilian investigative access to combat zones. The directorate's operational reach depends on unit-level training that centralized standards alone cannot guarantee at scale. With tribunal operations anticipated as soon as next year, evidence collected now sets the ceiling on what prosecutors can charge.

5 sources

Collection of evidence of Russian war crimes will be more extensive - Syrskyi signed the order - UNN
Syrsky launched a unified system for documenting Russian war crimes - UA.NEWS
From the Frontline to the Courtroom: How Ukraine Is Scaling the Work with Digital Evidence of War Crimes - Zerkalo Nedeli
Battlefield evidence of war crimes: a new model in the Armed Forces of Ukraine - Ukrainska Pravda
Syrskyi announces order on scaling war crimes evidence collection and establishing Directorate for Documenting Violations of the Law of Armed Conflict - Oleksandr Syrskyi (Official Telegram)