New Zealand Declines War Crime Investigation in Aid Worker Deaths in Ukraine

Andrew Bagshaw and Chris Parry were shot while evacuating civilians a year ago.

People standing near a Ukrainian national flag watch as dark smoke billows following an air strike in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, on March 26, 2022. Oleksii Filippov/AFP via Getty Images

The New Zealand government says it will not investigate whether the death of two aid workers, one of whom was a New Zealander, in Ukraine’s Soledar region a year ago, is a potential war crime.

However, experts say more needs to be done, and the parents of the victim are pressing for the New Zealand and UK governments to send their investigators to Kyiv.