Contemporary Armed Conflicts in Ukraine as a Challenge for IHL: Cases, Prospects and Paradigms

The topic relevance is due to the need to consider the possibility of applying the international humanitarian law norms during military operations in Ukraine, given that the modern realities of the war in Ukraine are accompanied by obvious violations of the norms of IHL in relation to the civilian population and the military. The aim of the work was to determine features of the IHL application in the context of military actions in Ukraine. A randomized systematic review was conducted, based on the search for publications for the period 2018–2024 in the scientometric databases. The research identified the main aspects and challenges of applying the IHL norms within the realities of the armed conflicts of today. Data on compliance and application of IHL in the context of modern challenges are presented and analyіed. It is shown that the IHL application in zones of armed conflicts is a complex process that requires constant international efforts. To illustrate the challenges arising within the implementation of IHL, the article examines the conflicts in Syria and Israel. Despite different geopolitical contexts, these conflicts have common features – massive IHL violations and humanitarian crises, war crimes. The features of violations of IHL norms during the current military aggression in Ukraine were identified. The paper not only conducted a comparative analysis of IHL norms implementation in conflict zones, but also put forward recommendations/proposals to promote their compliance. The paper identifies factors that are important in the IHL implementation in Ukraine during wartime. The need for control and development of effective methods for compliance with IHL during wartime is considered.