INVASION OF UKRAINE BY RUSSIA: THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

On the 24th February 2022, the whole world woke up to hear about the declaration of a special military operation in Ukraine by the Russian federation. Tension in Ukraine has gone up and the situation raised serious humanitarian concerns as the number of deaths among civilian population is on the increase. Similarly, many Ukrainians as well as foreign nationals from different countries including students as well as persons in public and private employments have been forced to leave their residences for their life. There is a growing discourse and concern whether dialogue should be adopted towards peace in Ukraine, others have thought otherwise and preferred sanctions against Russia and many have gone ahead to impose it. This paper is aimed at looking at the crisis in Ukraine to examine the best options toward resolving the quagmire within the shortest space of time. The paper compared dialogue and sanctions in a bid to ascertain which of the options will best produce result and get over the crisis. In addition, the paper also considered the place of humanitarian law in the crisis. The paper is aimed at reviewing the legal implications of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and at the end made recommendations toward a way out to bring back peace in Ukraine.