PREREQUISITES FOR LEGAL LIABILITY FOR THE ECOCYCID POLICY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AGAINST UKRAINE DURING THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

This scientific article analyzes the key prerequisites and multidimensional difficulties that arise in the process of bringing legal responsibility for Russia’s ecocycid policy, which it pursues against Ukraine. A comprehensive analysis of purposeful activity has been performed, which leads to global mass destruction, including contamination of water resources, atmospheric air, as well as the use of natural objects as weapons, which qualifies as tactics of “burned land” and a conscious commission of crimes against nature. It is determined that this policy grossly violates a number of constitutional rights of Ukrainian citizens, in particular the right to a safe life and health of the environment, ownership, access to drinking water and food safety. The prerequisites for legal liability for ecocide, which cover both international legal and national mechanisms. It is established that Russia’s actions fall under the provisions of international conventions governing the rules of armed conflict and environmental protection, as well as relevant articles of national criminal law. Numerous manifestations of ecocide, including contamination of territories with explosive objects, chemical pollution of soils and water, significant landscape fires, shelling of industrial objects and objects of critical infrastructure, threat to environmental territories and biodiversity, and radiation, and radiation hazards, and radiation hazards of Ukraine are analyzed.A significant negative impact on water ecosystems, which is manifested in the pollution of marine and river basins and the destruction of hydraulic structures, which leads to significant man-made disasters, also outlined problems related to the illegal operation of natural resources and the accumulation of waste from the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure. The issue of proving cause and effect and evaluation of the amount of environmental damage has also been investigated, emphasizing its critical importance for liable. Key difficulties have been identified that impede effectively liability for ecocide. These include difficulties in bringing direct cause and effect communication, assessing the full amount of damage, especially taking into account long-term consequences, as well as limited access to the occupied territories for the collection of evidence. The challenges related to the absence of universal international recognition of ecocide, as an independent international crime, the immunity of the state, difficulties in the enforcement of court decisions, as well as the inconsistency of existing international legal norms of the scale of ecological destruction observed in Ukraine.