VYSHHOROD, Ukraine - After meeting with the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the International Criminal Court had a "historic" role in providing long-term security and justice for crimes committed during the war in Ukraine.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan was in Ukraine investigating Russia's missile and drone strikes on energy and other infrastructure that have killed hundreds of civilians and left millions without electricity or water.

Russia claims these are legitimate attacks to weaken the enemy military, but Ukraine sees them as a way to intimidate ordinary people.

The ICC's role was to ensure effective justice for Ukrainians and "not get applause with magic tricks," Khan told reporters.

Zelensky said the court and Khan "will undoubtedly play a historic role in bringing Russian criminals to justice."

"Responding to Russian crimes in the face of this aggression precisely within the framework of the rule of law and under the authority of an international tribunal will be one of the guarantees of the long-term future security of Ukrainians and other nations," Zelenskyi said in his late-night talk.

The Geneva Conventions and additional protocols of international courts state that parties to a military conflict must distinguish between "civilian objects and military objectives" and that attacks on civilian objects are prohibited.

“Overall, I think we are seeing a clear pattern in terms of the number, scale, and breadth of attacks on Ukraine's power grids, and we need to look at why this is happening; are they legitimate targets or not?” Khan said.

Khan spoke to a small group of reporters outside a badly damaged apartment block in the satellite town of Vyshhorod, north of Kyiv, where a Russian missile fell in late November, killing eight civilians and injuring many others.

It was unclear if the missile was intended to strike a nearby power plant but veered off course.

The fact that there are multiple instances of this suggests a pattern, so we need to identify it.

After Russia began a full-scale invasion less than a year ago, the task of pursuing justice is one that the ICC and Ukraine's own legal system must undertake.

The vast majority of the more than 70,000 alleged war crimes would be adjudicated by domestic courts.

It is anticipated that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague will concentrate on prosecuting high-profile suspects for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed on Ukrainian territory by either side. Building such cases could take years.

Khan defended the court and its Ukrainian partners despite the fact that no arrest warrants had yet been issued by the ICC as a result of the previous year's work in Ukraine.

When asked if the process may be too slow to satisfy the desire for justice shared by many Ukrainians, he responded, "What people want are not Pyrrhic victories."

"As prosecutors, we serve as court officers." "People should know that this is not a political process whenever we make a move."

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, who accompanied Khan to the bomb site, praised the collaboration between his office and the ICC.

"Ninety-nine plus percent of them will be prosecuted and will be tried in Ukrainian courts," Kostin said, standing before a large, litter-strewn bomb crater.

Evidence gathered thus far by Western and Ukrainian authorities, particularly in regions liberated from Russian forces, points to widespread abuses, including torture, execution, deportation without trial, and sexual assault.

Such accusations are rejected by Russia, which also claims that some of the cited evidence is false.

Moscow has also charged the Ukrainian military with wrongdoing, including the murder of prisoners of war and the shelling of civilians in eastern Ukraine in Russian-controlled territory.

Khan admitted to Reuters that he had made several attempts to get in touch with the Russian government to discuss his work in Ukraine.

"I have proof from the Ukrainians. The Russians have not provided me with any proof,"  he said. "Give what you have if you have something." "It takes two to tango, but I'm ready to accept it and interact with them."