Official statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on carrying out systematic strikes on Kyiv not only completely undermines the UN Charter (in fact, the aggressor grants itself indulgence to further violate imperative norms of international law!!!), but is also a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, which form the basis of international humanitarian law.
According to these international agreements, the protection of civilians is governed by the following key rules:
- prohibition of attacks on civilian objects: according to Additional Protocol I (art. 51), the civilian population in general and individual civilians must not be the object of attacks. Strikes must be directed exclusively at military targets;
- prohibition of intimidation (terror): international humanitarian law explicitly prohibits acts of violence or threats of violence whose main purpose is to spread terror among the civilian population;
- prohibition of indiscriminate strikes: even if the aggressor country claims targets in the form of the military-industrial complex, ballistic missile or drone attacks in densely populated urban areas are classified as indiscriminate strikes;
- leadership accountability: such actions are qualified as war crimes. Individuals who order such attacks and officials who announce them must bear personal criminal responsibility.
Yesterday’s massive and combined missile-drone attack on Kyiv shows: the raider regime consciously resorts to killing Ukrainian civilians. They even document it themselves.
They will not stop. A UN Security Council meeting clearly needs to be convened. This is right…
At the same time, when the aggressor ignores all norms and rules, trying to stop them simply by repeatedly calling for compliance is futile.
In this case, 100 ballistic missiles accompanied by 1000 drones on Moscow are much more effective than all these meetings of the impotent UN Security Council!
