Commentary On Feb. 27, three days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian forces of carrying out a genocidal campaign. Are Zelensky’s claims valid? Are Russians forces committing acts of genocide on Ukrainian soil? I reached out to Alexa Koenig, a human rights expert, for comment on the matter. She told me that Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide” and “pushed for its recognition.” Lemkin “developed the concept in part based on similar invasions, for example, of Europeans in the Americas.” Koenig continued, during “the period of colonialist expansion, Europeans took over large swaths of territory in the Americas, killing indigenous people and trying to convert those who lived to their religion, culture and way of life, essentially attempting to eradicate their culture.” Although “some of the parallels to what we are seeing with Ukraine are fairly clear,” she said, the “tricky part is coming up with the …