The legal framework applicable to the armed conflict in Ukraine

Since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s military attack in Ukraine, the two States have been involved in an international armed conflict against each other triggering the applicability of IHL. The main IHL provisions applicable to conflicts of an international character, including belligerent occupation, are to be found in the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocol I (AP I) to which both the Russian Federation and Ukraine are parties, as well as relevant rules of Customary IHL. Ukraine and the Russian Federation are both parties to several core human rights treaties setting forth IHRL norms that remain generally applicable in situations of armed conflict.