THE ESSENCE OF WAR CRIMES THROUGH THE PRISM OF THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

It is argued that a war crime is a violation of international humanitarian law or national legislation by a serviceman or other person who participates in an armed conflict or is in-volved in military activities, with the aim of causing harm to the civilian population, prison-ers of war, objects of cultural heritage, etc. Such acts may include murder, torture, violence, sexual crimes, ethnic cleansing, violence against children, forced displacement of populations and other crimes that entail responsibility under international law. It was established that the key features of war crimes are: special severity and harmful-ness not only for each person and a separate society and state, but also for all humanity as a whole; war crimes do not have a statute of limitations, and in order to prove them, proper recording is necessary; are committed in conditions of armed conflict or military activity, where there is usually a large number of victims both among the military and the civilian population; violation of international humanitarian law or national legislation regulating the behavior of the parties in an armed conflict; are usually committed with the aim of causing harm to the civilian population, prisoners of war, objects of cultural heritage, etc.; can be com-mitted not only by military personnel, but also by other persons who participate in an armed conflict or are involved in it, such as: private military companies or guerrilla groups. It was noted that, unfortunately, in the 21st century, the issue of war crimes still remains relevant, especially for our state. In our opinion, the specified crimes should certainly be con-sidered crimes against humanity, because they are particularly brutal and massive. In addi-tion, the specified crimes are of an exclusively intentional nature, and are also a serious threat to the humanitarian situation in a specific state in particular, as well as in the whole world in general.