Ukraine files case against Russia at UN’s top court

Ukraine lodged the case to 'establish that Russia has no lawful basis to take action' against the country

A woman holds up a sign during a rally in support of Ukraine in Montreal, Canada, on February 27. AP

Ukraine has launched a case against Russia at the UN’s highest court, accusing Moscow of planning genocide and asking the court to halt the incursion and order Russia to pay reparations, the court said on Sunday.

The case, filed on Saturday, asks the International Court of Justice in The Hague for “provisional measures” ordering Moscow to “immediately suspend the military operations” that were launched on February 24.

The case says Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine based on false claims of acts of genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine, and is now planning genocidal acts in Ukraine.

Ukraine “emphatically denies that genocide happened in the eastern regions” and says it filed the case “to establish that Russia has no lawful basis to take action in and against Ukraine for the purpose of preventing and punishing any purported genocide", the court said.

It will schedule a hearing soon to hear the provisional measures request. Orders by the court are legally binding but not always adhered to.

If the court is found to have jurisdiction and the case goes ahead, it will probably take years to reach a conclusion. A decision on so-called provisional measures, however, could come far sooner.

The world court already has a case brought by Ukraine linked to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and Russian funding of rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian fighters test an automatic grenade launcher taken from a destroyed Russian infantry vehicle in Kharkiv. AFP

Refugees from Ukraine rest after arriving at a railway station in Przemysl, Poland. AP

People walk down 17th June Street in Berlin before a rally against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. AP

Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of Kiev and former heavyweight boxing champion, right, and his brother, Wladimir. AP

Khreshchatyk, Kiev’s main street, lies empty as a curfew comes into effect. AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to the nation from Kiev. AP

On February 27, the seventh anniversary of the assassination of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a note stating ‘No to war!’ is placed among flowers on the central Moscow bridge on which he was shot. AFP

A member of the Ukrainian forces, wearing the Guy Fawkes mask popularised by Anonymous, patrols central Kiev. AFP

Sviatoslav Yurash, 26, a politician from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party, poses with his assault rifle as he patrols Kiev. AFP

A Ukrainian serviceman and his dog look at smoke from a burning fuel storage depot after a Russian missile attack near Kiev. EPA

A refugee who fled conflict in Ukraine rests at a railway station after arriving in Zahony, Hungary. AP

A refugee boy who fled Ukraine cries at the railway station in Zahony, Hungary. AP

Civil defence members eat during a break at City Hall in Kiev. AP

An Indian student is embraced by his family at Chennai Airport after returning from Ukraine. EPA

Smoke is seen rising from behind buildings following bombings in Kiev. Getty

An armed civil defence woman holds a Kalashnikov assault rifle while patrolling an empty street in Kiev. AP

A woman fleeing from Ukraine cries as she waits to be taken to a shelter in Zahony, Hungary. Reuters

Ukrainian refugees cross the Romanian border at Siret, northern Romania. EPA

A residential building damaged by shelling in Kharkiv, north-eastern Ukraine. AFP

Apartments damaged by shelling in Kharkiv. AFP

A girl protests against Russia's military operation in Ukraine, in front of the Russian embassy in Tel Aviv. AFP

Young women protest in Tbilisi, Georgia with their hands painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Getty

Supplies for Ukrainian refugees at one of three camps set up at the MoldExpo exhibition center, in Chisinau, Moldova. EPA

Police detain a demonstrator during a protest against Russia's incursion into Ukraine in St Petersburg. AP

A man waits at a bus stop in St Petersburg, which has been with a painted in the colours of Ukraine's national flag. EPA

Russian ground forces approaching Nova Kakhovka, southern Ukraine. AP

A woman holds her daughter's hand as they arrive by bus from the Polish-Ukrainian border. Getty

A man drives his car full of food supplies to deliver to the Ukrainian side of the border, where thousands wait to enter Poland. Getty

Refugees arrive with buses from the Medyka pedestrian border crossing, in Przemsyl, eastern Poland. AFP

People gather to catch a train and leave Ukraine for neighboring countries at the railway station in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP

Cars form a line that stretches 35 kilometres from the Shehyni border crossing to Poland as people try to flee Russia's military operation against Ukraine. Reuters

Helena, right, and her brother Bodia, left, from Lviv, wait at the Medyka border crossing in eastern Poland. AFP

A Ukrainian soldier walks past debris of a burning military truck, on a street in Kiev. AP

People run for cover during the shelling on the city of Kiev. AP

A child refugee who fled the conflict in Ukraine covers her face in the event hall of a hotel offering shelter in Siret, Romania. AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holding a briefing in Kyiv. He said that Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan have suggested talks with Russia, which 'can only be welcomed'. AFP

Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, at a news conference in the embassy of Ukraine, Washington. AP

Manchester City footballers wear t-shirts in support of Ukraine before a match. Reuters

Ukrainian refugees arrive in Warsaw by train from Kiev. EPA

A woman waves a Ukrainian flag during a rally in Times Square, New York City. AFP

A man sits next to his dogs in an underground car park turned into a bomb shelter during an air raid alert in Kiev. AP

A woman sleeps on chairs in a Kiev bomb shelter. AP

A satellite image with overlaid graphics shows military vehicles alongside the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Reuters

A satellite image shows the effects of shelling in open fields along Soborna Street in the north-east suburbs of Kharkiv. Reuters

A big fire at a petroleum storage depot after a Russian missile attack, in Vasylkiv, near Kiev. EPA

Ukrainian servicemen take positions at a military airbase in the Kyiv region. Reuters

The UN court said in a preliminary ruling in 2017 that it expected Moscow and Kiev to work at implementing the Minsk peace agreements that were designed to bring peace to conflict-ravaged eastern Ukraine.

The court hears disputes between nations over matters of law, unlike the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, that holds people criminally responsible for offences including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, said on Friday that he was closely monitoring events in Ukraine.

Mr Khan warned the combatants that he has jurisdiction over any genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Ukraine dating back to February 2014.

“Any person who commits such crimes, including by ordering, inciting, or contributing in another manner to the commission of these crimes, may be liable to prosecution before the court,” he said.

Mr Khan said it was “imperative that all parties to the conflict respect their obligations under international humanitarian law".