Criminal law and procedural characteristics of war crimes in Ukraine (after the full-scale invasion of the russian federation into Ukraine)

The article is devoted to issues that arise for law enforcement agencies during the investigation of war crimes committed by the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, and to the problems of conducting investigative actions. War crimes are characterized according to Ukrainian and international legislation. The statistics of the commission of war crimes on the territory of Ukraine during the two years of the full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine were studied. The Ukrainian legislation regarding the responsibility for the commission of a war crime is analyzed. It has been established that the main problem that hinders the effective investigation of war crimes committed by the troops of the Russian Federation is active hostilities in the places where the crimes were committed. It was established that there is a need for specialists, with the help of which the investigation will proceed faster and more efficiently. Changes to the current criminal legislation for the proper investigation of war crimes were analyzed. The opinions of experts, lawyers of criminal law regarding the possibility of consideration of crimes of the Russian Federation by the International Criminal Court were analyzed. Peculiarities of carrying out specific investigative actions in wartime conditions have been studied. Having singled out certain problems faced by law enforcement agencies during the investigation of war crimes, a conclusion was made regarding the possible improvement of the investigation process. It is indicated that the experience of drafting legislation during the period of martial law shows that the proposals and changes made to the criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine are nonsystematic in nature and are not fully aimed at solving existing problems in criminal proceedings. At the same time, the need to investigate violations of the laws and customs of war obliges the justice system of Ukraine to apply in practice international standards of investigation of similar facts of the most serious international crimes, which requires the introduction of separate mechanisms for collecting and preserving evidence, conducting procedural actions, working with digital evidence, protection of witnesses and victims, and not to implement it only through legislative activities.