This report presents the analyses of the attacks on the villages of Luhansk province (Ukraine) in 2014 and presents the evidence that these attacks can serve as a proof that conflict in question is of an international character (as defined in Article 2 common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949). The Report also provides the evidence of the violations of international humanitarian law and international criminal law perpetrated in the examined area in the summer of 2014.
The Report investigates several incidents within the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, which lasts since 2014 and has resulted in:
- at least 9371 deaths;
- countless injuries;
- widespread destruction and illegal appropriation of property;
- arbitrary arrest and illegal imprisonment;
- inhuman treatment and torture;
- and the displacement of civilians.
Evidence presented in this report has been analysed using the framework of international treaty and customary law relating to conflict and mass atrocities, i.e. international humanitarian law and international criminal law. There is
mounting evidence that the conflict in question may qualify as an international armed conflict, based on evidence of direct involvement of Russian armed and security forces and persons related to the military units of the Russian
Federation.