Category: Russia-Ukraine conflict

Ukraine has sought an emergency order from the United Nations’ highest court to halt hostilities on its territory.

It argued that Russia, which boycotted the hearing, had falsely applied genocide law to justify its invasion.

The hearing was held at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) without legal representation for Russia.

“The fact that Russia’s seats are empty speaks loudly. They are not here in this court of law: they are on a battlefield waging an aggressive war against my country,’’ Ukrainian envoy Anton Korynevych said.

The court said it regretted Russia’s non-attendance.

After Ukraine presented its arguments yesterday the court said it would start deliberations and rule “as soon as possible’’.

Countries usually, but not always, follow the court’s orders, which are legally binding.

A spokesperson for the Russian Embassy in the Netherlands did not reply to a request for comment.

After the hearing Korynevych stressed that Russia’s absence would not impact the proceedings and Moscow would have to heed any court orders.

“They need to listen and they must listen to the court, under international law,’’ he told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia’s “special military action is needed to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide’’, meaning those whose first or only language is Russian in Eastern Ukraine.

Russian-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in two eastern breakaway regions of the country since 2014, with some 15,000 people killed, according to the government in Kyiv.

A leading association of genocide scholars has backed Ukraine and Western powers’ view that Russia was misappropriating the term genocide to describe the treatment of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.

“There is absolutely no evidence that there is genocide going on in Ukraine,’’ Melanie O’Brien, president of international Association of Genocide Scholars, told Reuters.

Russia’s new invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, while Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in the assault.

The official UN civilian death toll is 406, including 27 children, although officials say the true toll is probably higher.

The case centres on the interpretation of a 1948 treaty on the prevention of genocide, signed by both countries.

The treaty names the ICJ as the forum for resolving disputes between signatories.

Kyiv’s legal team stressed that Moscow was violating and abusing the treaty by using it as a justification for war.

The world was witnessing Russia killing civilians with indiscriminate attacks, Oksana Zolotaryova of the Ukrainian foreign ministry, told the court.

“We don’t know yet the true number of Ukrainians that Russia has murdered in the past 11 days.

“We can only guess how many more will be murdered in the next 11 days if this senseless aggression does not stop,’’ she said, as she asked the court to grant the provisional measures.

The ICJ is the highest court for resolving disputes between states, and while cases there usually take years, it has a fast-track procedure to look at requests for provisional measures, to prevent a situation from worsening.

The Federal Government has expressed its disapproval to recruitment of Nigerians as mercenaries to fight in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world.

This is as the Ukrainian government denied admitting foreign volunteer fighters in its bid to contain Russia’s onslaught.

Besides, the Ukraine also denied requesting for $1000 from Nigerians volunteers for air tickets and visas.

Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mrs. Francisca K. Omayuli, who stated these in a statement, said: “As a responsible member of the international community and consistent with our obligations under international law, Nigeria discourages the use of mercenaries anywhere in the world and will not tolerate the recruitment, in Nigeria, of Nigerians as mercenaries to fight in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world.

“The Federal Government will continue to engage with the Embassy of Ukraine in Nigeria and other relevant authorities to prevent this possibility.”

But, the Ukrainian Embassy refuted the allegation, but confirmed that a number of Nigerians had approached the embassy indicating their willingness to fight on the side of Ukraine in its on-going conflict with Russia.

The embassy, according to the Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, clarified that the Ukrainian government is not admitting foreign volunteer fighters.

The statement added: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted the embassy to verify the speculation. The Ukrainian Embassy refuted the allegation, but confirmed that a number of Nigerians had approached the embassy, indicating their willingness to fight on the side of Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia.

“Furthermore, the embassy clarified that the Ukrainian government is not admitting foreign volunteer fighters and as such dissociated itself from the claim that it is requesting $1,000 from each Nigerian volunteer for air ticket and visa.”

But, the Nigerian Youth Union (NYU) has hailed Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, for ensuring that Sokoto indigenes in Ukraine were airlifted early enough when signs of impending hostilities between Russia and Ukraine emerged.

This is as the youth body urged the Federal Government to adopt more proactive strategies to protect Nigerians abroad, especially during unforeseen emergencies.

It decried the sluggish response of the Federal Government to the safety of Nigerians in Ukraine, especially students, after Russia invaded the European country last week.

In a statement in Abuja yesterday, National President of NYU, Comrade Chinonso Obasi, lamented that Nigerians were subjected to various acts of social abuse, degradation and molestation at the Ukrainian borders due to the nonchalant attitude of the government.

Obasi, a former National President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), expressed dismay that the Federal Government dithered in evacuating Nigerians from the troubled country despite early warning signals.

Some of the Nigerian students trapped in Hostel 3 of Sumy State University (SumDU), following fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Sumy, are making private arrangements to escape from the area.

Those who can afford it are spending up to $1,800 per head for difficult-to-get taxi rides out of the city.

Eight of them braved the bombing and escaped westwards on Sunday.

Sumy, in eastern Ukraine, is approximately 48 kilometres from the Russian border – an area surrounded by conflict.

There were about 368 Nigerian students still trapped in Sumy as of Saturday night and they were facing food and water shortages.

Some of the students told The Nation that following the Ukrainian and Russians agreement on a safe corridor for civilians to leave the city, students were making private arrangements and it was now every man for himself.

One of the eight, Emmanuella Oiza, told The Nation yesterday that they were lucky to get a bus to the train station in Myrhorod, a city in the Poltava Oblast (province) of central Ukraine.

Oiza, a 17-year-old first-year medical student, said what should have been a two-hour ride from Sumy to Myrhorod took seven hours.

She explained that they dodged Russian soldiers and the quick reflexes of their driver saved them from possibly being blown to bits when their bus came face-to-face with Russian battle tanks.

Oiza said: “We started the journey (from Sumy) by 7:30am and got to the Myrhorod train station by 2:30pm. We had to hide a couple of times because we saw Russian troops on the road.

“The second time we had to hide was scarier because the tank was facing us directly and our driver had to be quick to catch the break and take us out of there.

“We stopped in front of a family house and they had dogs. So, the dogs kept barking at the car because we were outside their house. The owners of the house came outside and asked what happened and why we were there. We explained our situation to them and they said we should come into their house and take some coffee, tea and food.

“After an hour or so, the road was safe again but we still followed a rural route out of Sumy till we reached Myrhorod. So, our journey of normally two hours at most was seven hours long. We encountered seven checkpoints, at two of which they asked for our Posvidka (temporary residence).

“We stayed at the train station in Myrhorod overnight, because no trains were going at that time. By 9 or 10am this morning (yesterday), we finally got a train but the journey will be long because it is going to Kharkiv, Poltava, Myrhorod, Kyiv then Lviv. As of now, we’re not moving because there have been threats of airstrike. So, we’re just in the train waiting for it to be safe to move.”

She said eight of them paid 32,000 Ukrainian hryvnias (Uah) (N443,602.91) or four thousand Uah (N55,000) per head for the trip from Sumy to Myrhorod train station.

“It was lucky for us, actually. Some people are paying $1,800 per head. We then used a cab to Poltava to get a train.”

Oiza’s mum, Mrs. Rashida, said parents had to arrange private means of transportation for their kids.

“The government planned to evacuate them today, but failed again,” she said.

A Computer Science Masters student, Ojo Olajide, who is still trapped in Hostel 3, corroborated Oiza.

Olajide said: “Students are finding their way out already. I don’t know the exact number. Private plans coupled with risk. But a lot of students are still in Sumy hopeless.”

The Federal Government had evacuated 1,076 Nigerians from Ukraine as of Sunday night.

Director of consular and legal services, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Akinremi Bolaji, said last Friday that the government was aware of the plight of Nigerians in Sumy.

“We still have 350 in Sumy College, which has been cut off… as soon as we are through with the safe corridor, we will go for those ones,” Bolaji said.

But Olajide explained that the planned evacuation of Nigerians in Sumy yesterday morning was shelved because security and other logistics were yet to be perfected.