INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS DURING THE WAR IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has become an unprecedented challenge for the international community and international humanitarian law, clearly demonstrating the limits of its effectiveness in a hybrid armed conflict. The relevance of the topic is due to the need for a legal assessment of the massive human rights violations recorded in Ukraine, as well as the search for international mechanisms to bring the perpetrators to justice. The purpose of the study is to analyze violations of international humanitarian law during the war in Ukraine. The theoretical basis of the study is the provisions of public international law, the Geneva Conventions, the Additional Protocols, the Rome Statute and the latest initiatives to establish a Special Tribunal. The study analyzed the facts of violations of the laws and customs of war, systematized the most resonant crimes against civilians and critical infrastructure, and identified signs of genocide, sexual violence, illegal deportation of children, torture and nuclear blackmail. The author substantiates the need to update international humanitarian law to take into account the methods of hybrid warfare. The key barriers to bringing to justice the top military and political leadership of the Russian Federation are identified. The importance of establishing a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression and the International Commission on Claims as instruments for restoring justice is systematically outlined. The practical significance of the results obtained is to develop recommendations for improving the legal regulation of hybrid warfare, as well as to formulate an international strategy of accountability for the crime of aggression.