The Ukrainian government has given the International Criminal Court wider jurisdiction to investigate war crimes that may have been committed during the current civil conflict in the country.
The country previously accepted the court's jurisdiction for a limited period from November 2013 to February 2014, when pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich attempted to crush opposition protests, with many people dying.
The ICC said Ukraine had now expanded its scope to include the period up to the present, with ongoing violence between the government and separatist rebels in the east of the country.
The United Nations Human Rights Office said on Tuesday at least 7,962 people have been killed and 17,811 wounded in eastern Ukraine since mid-April 2014, Reuters reported.
"Ukraine will cooperate with the court without delay or exception,” the ICC said in a statement.
"If an investigation is opened, it will also be for the ICC prosecutor to decide, on the basis of the evidence collected, whether to ask the ICC judges to issue arrest warrants," the court said.
Prosecutors with the court have launched a preliminary investigation and will decide whether to commence a formal war crimes inquiry based on its findings.