Discover freely accessible articles regarding the conflict between Russia & Ukraine
December 1, 2022
The Russian invasion of Ukraine of February 2022 has led to investigations into international crimes committed in Ukraine, both by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Ukrainian national prosecutors. Even though neither Ukraine nor Russia is a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the ICC nonetheless has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, but is unable to prosecute the underlying crime of aggression without a referral from the United Nations Security Council. However, Ukrainian authorities, with the support of some countries and an increasing number of experts, have called for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian aggression. In the meantime, the investigations in Ukraine have been gathering evidence since the early days of the invasion, and it is expected that recent withdrawals of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory will provide additional evidence for these investigations because Russian forces are unlikely to have had sufficient time to conceal such evidence before their retreat.
Readers wishing to gain a better understanding of the international law topics relevant to the invasion of Ukraine, its international economic and political consequences, and the investigations of international crimes committed during the invasion will find detailed coverage of the key concepts in the Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law. To assist readers interested in these concepts, the general editors of the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL) and the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (MPEiPro) have selected the following articles of particular importance, which have been made freely available for a limited time:
- Aggression, Yoram Dinstein (last updated September 2015)
- Annexation, Rainer Hofmann (last updated January 2020)
- Armed Attack, Karl Zemanek (last updated October 2013)
- Asymmetric Warfare, Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg (last updated March 2021)
- Conquest, Marcelo Kohen (last updated February 2015)
- Crimes against Humanity, Guido Acquaviva and Fausto Pocar (last updated January 2022)
- Exercise of Jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression: International Criminal Court (ICC), Roger S Clark (last updated December 2018)
- International Criminal Law, Claus Kreß (last updated March 2009)
- Military Objectives, Marco Sassòli (last updated September 2015)
- Occupation, Belligerent, Eyal Benvenisti (last updated May 2009)
- Self-Defence, Christopher Greenwood (last updated April 2011)
- Sovereign Debt Litigation, Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal (last updated July 2020)
- Use of Force, Prohibition of, Oliver Dörr (last updated August 2019)
- Uniting for Peace Resolution (1950), Christina Binder (last updated May 2017)
- Veto, Bardo Fassbender (last updated June 2019)
Although not specifically related to international law issues concerning the Russian invasion, the following article has also been made freely available because of its relevance to international commercial dispute resolution in Ukraine:
- International Commercial Arbitration Court: Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Yuliya Chernykh (last updated March 2022)