Ukraine

Ukraine: Genocide, War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and Aggression

What

On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. During this invasion, Russian authorities and armed forces have been accused of perpetrating war crimes, including torture, rape, summary executions, indiscriminate attacks against civilian targets, and forcible deportation of Ukrainians to Russian-controlled territories. Alleged Russian crimes in Ukraine are being investigated by the Ukrainian authorities, the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice, and several other countries’ courts under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
 

Where

Ukraine is in Eastern Europe and shares a border with Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldavia. For centuries, Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire and later of the Soviet Union. Since becoming independent in 1991, Ukraine has been moving away from Russia’s influence and toward the West. When a series of demonstrations and mass uprisings, the Euromaidan, led to the downfall of a pro-Russian administration in February 2014, Russia retaliated by occupying and annexing the Crimean Peninsula in southern Ukraine.
 
In the Ukrainian region of Donbas, armed conflicts broke out between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed militias in the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk in April 2014. Russian propaganda portrayed the Ukrainian government as neo-Nazis and accused Ukraine of perpetrating a genocide against ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine. Two ceasefire agreements signed in Minsk, Belarus failed to end the conflict.
 
Inside Russia, the annexation of Crimea and war in the Donbas have inflamed Russia’s drive to reclaim territory and to reassert imperial ambition. Losing Ukraine to the West and NATO would deal a major blow to Russia’s status in the region and the world. Domestically, Russian President Vladimir Putin has used conflicts with the West and rising Russian nationalism to divert attention from social and economic issues and shore up support for his authoritarian regime.
 

When

The 2022 invasion of Ukraine is a major escalation of Russia’s ongoing war in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. The invasion began on February 24, 2022, after months of Russian military buildups near the border. During the initial phase of the war (February-April 2022), Russian forces advanced from the North, Northeast, East, and Southeast with the goal of overthrowing the Ukrainian government in a blitzkrieg-style military operation. The Russian offensive was thwarted by poor military planning, logistical issues, low morale, stronger-than-expected Ukrainian military resistance, and prompt international responses. The second phase (April 2022-present) saw Russia’s war aims change from regime change in Ukraine to seizing the Donbas region.
 

How

Genocide: According to the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” including:
  • Killing members of the group;
  • Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
  • Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
  • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
  • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
There is growing evidence that Russia is perpetrating genocide against the Ukrainian people. The rhetoric from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian officials, and Russian state media indicates a clear intent to erase Ukrainian nationality, sovereignty, and cultural identity. Russian forces are systematically targeting Ukrainian civilians, including women, children, and the elderly. According to the UN, as of March 26, 2023, at least 8,400 civilians, including 438 children, have been killed in Ukraine. Putin’s forces have targeted over a thousand towns, depriving residents of essentials such as food, water, medicine, and electricity. Maternity hospitals have been bombed, leading to the prevention of births.
 
Russia has also forcibly transferred at least 13,000 Ukrainian children to areas under its control and forcibly adopted them into Russian families. This is a clear violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
 
Crime of aggression: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine constitutes an illegal use of force and a war of aggression in violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. Putin has claimed that Russian military intervention in Ukraine was necessary to stop the “genocide” of ethnic Russians and defend Donetsk and Luhansk against Ukrainian aggression. However, these claims are baseless and are not legitimate grounds for the use of force under international law.
 
War crimes: All parties to the armed conflict in Ukraine are obligated to abide by international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, which prohibit willful killing, rape, torture, and inhumane treatment of POWs and civilians. Systematic and widespread violations of international humanitarian law by Russian forces have been documented, including:
  • Indiscriminate attacks against civilian targets: Russian forces have made indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets such as residential areas, hospitals, schools, and kindergartens. For instance, on March 16th, 2022, Russian aircraft bombed a theater that was used as an air-raid shelter in the city of Mariupol, killing at least 300 people, including many children. Russian forces have used cluster munitions, which release explosives over a wide area. They may fail to explode upon impact and turn into land mines, posing a long-term danger to civilians. The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions bans these weapons, but Russia and Ukraine are not parties to this Convention.
  • Torture, rape, sexual violence, and killings of civilians: As the Russian military retreated from the areas in Ukraine that it briefly occupied, evidence of Russian war crimes emerged, including those of torture, rape, and summary executions of civilians, including children. One of the most glaring instances of Russian atrocities took place in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where hundreds of bodies and several mass graves were found after Russian forces withdrew in early April 2022. Subsequent investigations revealed that Russian troops reportedly killed over a thousand people and raped 25 girls and women during their occupation of Bucha.
  • Human shields: Russian forces have allegedly used Ukrainian civilians, including children, as human shields in violation of international humanitarian law.
 
Crimes Against Humanity: Crimes against humanity are like genocide in their brutality, but they are widespread attacks against any civilian population, not against a specific national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. The attacks include murder, torture, imprisonment, sexual violence, and other inhumane acts. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the context of war.
 
When the war began, 285,000 foreigners were permanent residents in Ukraine, and thousands more were temporary residents, including 16,000 African students. Although they are not Ukrainian, they too are victims of the war. Russia is therefore carrying out crimes against humanity against these non-Ukrainian people in Ukraine in addition to crimes against Ukrainian people.
 

Response

Investigations into and prosecution of these crimes are already underway at international, regional, and national courts.
 
International Courts:
International Court of Justice (ICJ): Almost immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukraine filed a case at the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. This court hears cases between countries for treaty disputes. Ukraine charges Russia with violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, which both countries have ratified.
 
International Criminal Court (ICC): The ICC has been investigating crimes in Ukraine since March 3, 2022, a week after Russia’s invasion.
 
On March 17, 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, for perpetrating war crimes in Ukraine, unlawfully abducting and deporting thousands of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.
 
Regional Courts:
Ukraine brought a case against Russia to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. On January 25, this Court ruled that the case brought by Ukraine against Russia was admissible. This decision is a significant milestone in the quest for justice over Russia’s crimes against Ukraine, as it recognizes that parts of eastern Ukraine seized by so-called separatists in 2014 were in fact controlled by Russia.
 
The EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, Eurojust, has set up Joint Investigation Teams with Ukraine and several other countries to facilitate cooperation on war crimes investigations.
 
On March 5, 2023, the EU also announced the creation of a new international tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression. Although aggression is within the mandate of the International Criminal Court, it requires that Russia accept the jurisdiction of the ICC, which it does not. The EU has therefore established the International Centre for the Prosecution of Crimes of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) to fill this gap.
 
National Courts:
In Ukraine. Three months after Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian courts delivered the first convictions for war crimes committed by Russian soldiers. An estimated 70,000 war crimes are pending investigation in Ukraine right now.
 
Universal Jurisdiction. Another mechanism is the use of universal jurisdiction, which allows crimes that are especially heinous to be prosecuted almost anywhere in the world. National courts in fifteen European countries have already opened investigations into Russian war crimes under universal jurisdiction.
 
U.S. Investigations:
On December 22, 2022, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed the Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act, which enables alleged war criminals who attempt to hide in safety in the US to be prosecuted regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator, the victim, or where the crime occurred, with no statute of limitation. The legislation was supported by the Departments of Justice, State, and Defense, and by the White House.
 
Political Responses:
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent atrocities have drawn global condemnation. In March 2022, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Russia’s military operations in Ukraine and demanded a withdrawal of Russian forces. In February 2023, the UNGA once again passed a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
 
The United States, the United Kingdom, the EU, and several other countries have imposed economic sanctions on Russia following the annexation of Crimea and its incursion into eastern Ukraine since 2014. Following the 2022 invasion, these countries have introduced tougher sanctions targeting the Russian economy, institutions, and leadership, including Putin and his inner circle. In March 2022, U.S. President Biden announced a ban on Russian oil, gas, and coal imports to the US. In June 2022, 27 EU member states reached an agreement to ban most Russian oil imports by the end of 2022. Thousands of companies and organizations have withdrawn from the Russian market or suspended their operations in Russia in the largest exodus of foreign businesses from the country.
 
The US and other countries have ramped up military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine. In the US, there has been a bipartisan consensus to support Ukraine, as evidenced by a landmark $40 billion aid package for Ukraine in May 2022. In Europe, the war has altered the security landscape and compelled historically neutral countries like Sweden and Finland to apply for NATO membership.
Written by Hung Le; updated April 2023.