Ukraine will ask the International Court of Justice to issue an emergency ruling that will need Russia to cease the invasion. Ukraine is arguing that Moscow's justification for the attack is based on a faulty interpretation of genocide law.
On February 27, Ukraine launched a lawsuit against Russia in the United Nations' highest court (ICJ), rejecting Moscow's argument that it invaded its neighbour to avert genocide and requesting that Russian military actions be halted immediately. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Ukraine committed genocide in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine and that the invasion was necessary to put an end to it.
Ukraine requested judges to order so-called "provisional measures" to defend Ukraine in a file before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, which dismissed the genocide accusation.
The ICJ is set to begin the hearing on Monday, with Ukraine presenting its case. Russia will respond on Tuesday. The ICJ’s rulings are generally binding and countries are expected to follow them. But, there are no direct means to enforce them. Last week, the executive board of the International Association of Genocide Scholars issued a statement saying that Putin was "misappropriating and misusing the term 'genocide'", a Reuters report reads.
The case centres on the interpretation of a 1948 treaty on the prevention of genocide, signed by both countries.
"There is absolutely no evidence that there is a genocide going on in Ukraine," president of the executive board of the International Association of Genocide Scholars issued a statement, Melanie O'Brien, told Reuters.
