TheCable

Ukraine has filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the country of “planning genocide”.

In the lawsuit, Ukraine demanded immediate action against Russia, asking the court to intervene and order Russia to halt its military operations against it.

Ukraine said Russia had “falsely claimed” that genocide was being committed in the breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donetsk in order to justify an invasion.

It accused Russia of “planning acts of genocide in Ukraine” and “intentionally killing or seriously injuring people of Ukrainian nationality”.

The country said it filed the suit “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 is expected to order immediate measures to prevent the violation of the rights of Ukraine and its citizens,” the suit reads in part.

A date for a hearing has not yet been set.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier announced the lawsuit via Twitter on Sunday.

“Ukraine has submitted its application against Russia to the ICJ,” Zelenskyy tweeted.

“Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression. We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week.”

Ukraine has submitted its application against Russia to the ICJ. Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression. We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week.

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— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 27, 2022

Court proceedings before the ICJ are usually lengthy but in the case of an urgent application, a hearing can be scheduled within a few weeks.

A case brought by Ukraine against Russia was already underway before the UN court.

Ukraine had accused the country of occupying the Crimean Peninsula, as well as funding pro-Russian separatists in its eastern region of Donbas and supplying them with weapons.

The function of the ICJ is to settle conflicts between nation states peacefully, and its judgements are binding.

However, the court has no means of forcing a losing state to implement its ruling, though it can appeal to the UN security council if its ruling is ignored.