Genocide or War Crimes During the Russia-Ukraine War?
Journal: Rethinking political violence
Year: 2025

Abstract This chapter analyzes whether there have been genocides or war crimes during the Russia-Ukraine war. The Ukrainian government and media, and initially some of the Western governments and the media, stated that the Russia-Ukraine war involved genocide of Ukrainians. In contrast, the Russian government and the media called the war presented the Russian invasion as a humanitarian intervention aimed at stopping a genocide of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in Donbas. They denied Russia