Ukraine takes Russia to international court

Ukraine has lodged a complaint against Russia at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to get it to halt its invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

“Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression,” Zelensky declared in a tweet, AFP reports.

“We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week,” he said.

The ICJ, which is based in the Netherlands capital The Hague, does not have a mandate to bring criminal charges against individual Russian leaders behind the four-day-old invasion.

But it is the world’s top court for resolving legal complaints between states over alleged breaches of international law. It is the supreme judicial institution of the United Nations.