International armed conflict (2014 – )
Estimated starvation-related casualties: Undetermined
The conflict in Ukraine began in February 2014 when Russian forces invaded and occupied Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. In April, a non-international armed conflict commenced between Ukraine and organised armed groups operating in the Donbas region of Ukraine. By July 2014, Russia exercised overall control over the armed groups operating in the region, internationalising the armed conflict in Donbas. For further background on the armed conflicts in Ukraine through mid-February 2022, see “International Law and Defining Russia’s Involvement in Crimea and Donbas”.
Russian forces drastically escalated hostilities on 24 February 2022, launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On-the-ground hostilities have since spread to the south-eastern part of Ukraine, while the entire territory of the country has suffered from aerial bombardment. According to the UN, 4,509 civilians were killed and 5,585 injured between 24 February 2022 and 17 June 2022 in conflict-related violence. Prior to the recent escalation, the UN had reported 3,405 civilians were killed and more than 7,000 were injured in the period of 14 April 2014 to 31 January 2022.
Food insecurity during the conflict
Since 2014, the UN has reported multiple attacks on objects indispensable for survival (OIS), including medical facilities, gas and electricity supplies, water and sanitation facilities (see, here, here, and here). However, only during the recent escalation of hostilities in Ukraine, has Russia appeared to engage in starvation-related tactics such as sieges, blockades of humanitarian aid, looting of agricultural machinery, and shelling of OIS, reportedly as a means to coerce the Ukrainian population to submit to Russia’s authority. In the three months since the escalation began, these tactics have caused more than three million Ukrainians to require food support.
The apparent use of hunger as a weapon of war in Ukraine has manifested in the deliberate targeting of agricultural facilities, including grain silos, and blockades of Ukrainian ports by Russian forces. In addition to depriving Ukrainians of access to food, these acts have prevented grain export internationally, driving a global food crisis ‘to famine levels’ in dozens of countries. Arguably, the conflict in Ukraine is the first since World War II in which hostilities on the territory of one state have impacted on food security worldwide, sending 276 million people ‘marching towards starvation’.
Evidence of starvation crimes
Incidents of indiscriminate shelling, summary executions and sexual violence by Russian forces in Ukraine has been widely reported since the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Though the need for further investigation is palpable, there is information suggesting Russians have engaged in the deliberate starvation of civilians and widescale attacks on OIS.
The situation in Mariupol, besieged during the first week of the 2022 escalation, is one example where indications exist that the war crime of intentional starvation of civilians, and other associated violations likely occurred. During the siege of February-March 2022, local residents were deprived of water, food, electricity, and heat. Civilians were prevented from leaving the city and humanitarian aid convoys were restricted from entering Mariupol or were looted by the Russian forces en route. According to the Mayor of Mariupol, the information available as of late May revealed that 22,000 civilians had died in the city since the escalation. Humanitarian corridors for evacuation were not organised until mid-March and, even then, evacuation routes were often fired upon by Russian forces. Under the pretext of evacuation to relieve the humanitarian crisis, Russia transferred up to 40,000 Ukrainian civilians to Russia and to the part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region controlled by Russia through proxy forces. As of mid-April, more than 20,000 Ukrainian civilians remained under interrogation in Russian ‘filtration camps’, which aimed to identify persons supporting Ukraine. All in all, the siege of Mariupol appears to have involved a variety of war crimes as defined by the Rome Statute, including intentional starvation and willful obstruction of humanitarian aid (Article 8(2)(b)(xxv)), attacking civilians (Article 8(2)(b)(i)), unlawful deportation or transfer and unlawful confinement (Article 8(2)(a)(vii)).
There is also indication that Russian forces may have committed crimes against humanity in the context of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population of Ukraine. While further investigation is required into the deliberate nature of the conduct, this attack appears evidenced by routine targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and deprivation of OIS in Ukraine. According to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in the early days of the escalated hostilities of 2022, damage was caused to critical civilian infrastructure including that sustaining health, electricity and water and sanitation, in various areas of Ukraine impacted by on the ground hostilities. This effectively left civilians ‘without the basics for day-to-day life’.. There have also been continuing attacks against hospitals and medical supplies (e.g. Bashtanka, Mykolaiv region, Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, Mykolaiv), schools (e.g. Severodonetsk and Rubizhne, Luhansk region), and residential buildings (e.g. Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Oleksandrivka, Kharkiv region).
Evidence of systematic disproportionate and indiscriminate shelling of agricultural machinery, grain silos, and food storage facilities has emerged from the Luhansk, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zhytomyr regions. According to the regional military governor of the Luhansk region, all food storage facilities in the city of Severodonetsk have been destroyed. Russian bombing destroyed 17,000 tons of wheat and 8,500 tons of sunflower—enough to make bread for 300,000 people for a year.
In the Kherson region, Russian servicemen have forced farmers to sow grain and work farms in occupied territory, while Russian forces seized harvests from storage, with reports of harvests and looted Ukrainian produce being sent to Russia. Additionally, farmers have been forced by occupying forces to dig trenches for military purposes with their agricultural machinery. Reports also indicate extensive looting of agricultural machinery in the Zaporizhzhia region. The machinery, valued at USD 2 million, appears to have been appropriated and transferred to Russia.
These incidents point to the urgent need for wider investigation to account for the full-extent of starvation-related crimes committed during the conflict.
Impunity for starvation crimes
The international community has been quick to respond to the allegations of potential international crimes committed since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022. Various States have pledged additional support for the ICC’s investigation in Ukraine, including seconding experts to assist in investigations. This has enabled the ICC to assemble its largest-ever team of experts to probe alleged violations of the Rome Statute committed in Ukraine. Nevertheless, the ICC is yet to announce whether it will investigate starvation-related offences stemming from the ongoing conflict.
The OHCHR’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (IICI) is mandated to investigate ‘all alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law’. However, whether the IICI will address potential starvation-related crimes remains to be seen.
At the domestic level, starvation-related crimes committed during the ongoing conflict have not yet been prosecuted by Ukrainian authorities, although several cases concerning the shelling of OIS and blockade of humanitarian aid are being investigated as war crimes of attacking civilian objects or genocide. Domestic investigations may be hampered by the vague language of the relevant domestic war crimes provision (Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), which covers all violations of laws and customs of war without providing particulars, resulting in the elements of specific crimes, such as the intentional starvation of civilians and the relevant IHL rules, being poorly known and not widely utilised as an investigative or prosecutorial tool.
Third States, such as Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, and others, acting individually and through joint investigative teams, are investigating alleged international crimes committed in Ukraine. However, it remains unclear whether these efforts will address the body of early evidence pointing to the war crime of deliberate starvation.
