In view of the military aggression by the Russian Federation and the conditions of the legal regime of martial law in Ukraine, on March 18, 2022, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine made a decision to suspend the activities of certain political parties.

For obvious reasons, it is very hard to determine how long a given armed conflict, such as the current war in Ukraine, will last. This is even more problematic for a country that is defending itself against a foreign aggressor. However, this does not mean that either martial law or a state of emergency can last forever.

Some of the experts and politicians outside of Ukraine begin to voice statements that Ukraine must accept the compromises which favor Russia in order to avoid even more casualties. The authors of these statements also echo the Russian narrative, that Russia is only worried about its own safety in the region.

Every day of the war in Ukraine, Russian occupants kill on average five children, according to Ukrainian juvenile prosecutors. Vadym Boychenko, mayor of Mariupol, calls the situation in the city a genocide. TV channels inform about the shelling of “green corridors” and the inability to deliver humanitarian assistance to besieged populations. Cities are being wiped out, including apartment buildings, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, cultural facilities, and churches.

The only question is the reaction of the civilized world and the punishment of war criminals

According to international law, at least three international judicial bodies can try Russia for its invasion of Ukraine: the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court (both located in The Hague, Netherlands), and the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg, France). In addition, there is a possibility to create an ad hoc international military tribunal akin to the Nuremberg Tribunal against the Nazi German leadership in 1945.

War always brings grief, pain, suffering, and loss. On paper, war is waged by one state against another and is aimed at destroying an opponent’s military potential, including its armed forces and military equipment and facilities. But, Russia’s war in Ukraine has already led to mass killings of civilians and widespread destruction of residential buildings.

8 years. That’s for how long Ukraine was in a state of hybrid war with the Russian Federation. First, our neighbors annexed Crimea in 2014, and then invaded Donbas and occupied part of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. However, the aggressor did not stop there and on February 24, 2022, without declaring war, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.