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Vol. 41 (2021)
General Articles

Escalation of the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 in Light of the Law on Use of Force and International Humanitarian Law

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  • Patrycja Grzebyk
Patrycja Grzebyk
Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw (Warsaw)

Published 2022-06-30

Keywords

  • Ukraine,
  • Russia,
  • war,
  • international armed conflict,
  • war crimes,
  • international humanitarian law,
  • use of force,
  • aggression
    • ...More
    Less

Copyright (c) 2022 Polish Yearbook of International Law

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Escalation of the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 in Light of the Law on Use of Force and International Humanitarian Law. (2022). Polish Yearbook of International Law, 41, 145-162. https://doi.org/10.24425/PYIL.2022.142344

Abstract

The aim of this article is to assess the military operation started on 24 February 2022 by Russia against Ukraine in light of the law on use of force, having in mind all the justifcations ofcially expressed by Russian authorities and in light of international humanitarian law. The author claims that there is no justifcation for the Russian military action and thus it must be qualifed as aggression. This, due to the serious violation of the peremptory norm, implies obligations on the part of states and international organizations (i.e. the international community). In addition, the current conduct of hostilities clearly shows that it is mainly Russian forces which neglect international humanitarian law principles, which might amount to war crimes.

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