Proceedings began this week in Ukraine v Russian Federation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
Oral arguments were presented by Ukraine. The Russian Federation has refused to take part.
Ukraine asked the court to order Russia ‘immediately suspend the military operations commenced on 24 February 2022’ that have as their stated objectives the prevention of a claimed genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts of Ukraine, and report one week after to the court on measures taken to implement the order.
Law firm Covington, acting pro bono on behalf of the government of Ukraine, said Ukraine’s application explains that President Putin ‘expressly justified his invasion of Ukraine on a false and offensive claim of genocide, and that Russian aggression taken on the basis of these false claims is unlawful’.
Anton Korynevych, Ukraine’s representative, said: ‘The fact that Russian seats are empty speaks loudly. They are not here in this court of law. They are on a battlefield waging aggressive war against my country.’
