Russian Starvation Tactics as a War Crime: The Evidence

However, a compelling narrative has been neglected regarding one aspect of this war that has not been adequately understood, covered and investigated – Russia's use of starvation tactics against the civilian population of Ukraine.

The crime of starvation in the modern world has usually been associated with armed conflicts in sub-Saharan countries, with hunger and poverty, and more recently with the Gaza Strip. But not with Ukraine, which is itself one of the world's breadbaskets.

It was before the start of the great war with Russia.

The essence of the war crime of starvation consists in the deliberate deprivation of people of everything necessary for survival, combined with the deliberate starvation of the civilian population.

It is not just about the denial of food and water, but also the denial of shelter, medicine, humanitarian aid, livelihoods, electricity and fuel.

The ongoing attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure that took place in the winter of 2022 and 2023 are just one example. Ukrainians understand this very well, because they have already experienced a mass famine - the Holodomor, which was actually committed by the same aggressor state.

The word "hunger", which is an integral part of the word "holodomor", corresponds to the word "cold". The fear experienced by Ukrainians is palpable due to constant attacks on critical infrastructure facilities, which can lead to interruptions in the supply of electricity, water and heating. These attacks also have a critical impact on other important areas of life, such as health care and education.

Over the course of two years, Global Rights Compliance has carefully documented signs of the use of food as a weapon, through a comprehensive analysis, especially of open-source information, including photos, videos, public statements by officials and other digital data.

Global Rights Compliance is an international legal foundation specializing in international humanitarian law, international criminal law and human rights protection issues. Since Russia's illegal invasion in 2022, Global Rights Compliance has supported the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (OGPU) in investigating an increasing number of war crimes, including attacks on civilian infrastructure, sexual crimes, murders and child abductions.

 

The Hunger Crimes Mobile Justice Team is part of the Serious International Crimes Advisory Group (ACA Group). It was created in response to a request from the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine to strengthen its capacity to investigate and prosecute crimes related to crimes committed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This tactic has become an integral part of Russia's war against Ukraine and is carried out in three clearly defined phases.

First, settlements inhabited by civilians are besieged and attacked with the aim of denying them access to basic necessities.

The second phase was followed by systematic attacks on civilian infrastructure.

The third stage is the transformation of agriculture into a weapon by preventing or limiting the export of Ukrainian grain, which is followed by repeated attacks on agricultural infrastructure facilities.

 

Phase I. War siege

 

Russian troops are besieging centers where the civilian population lives, surrounding cities such as Mariupol and Chernihiv, deliberately denying access to food, water and electricity, attacking infrastructure.

This tactic is mainly directed against the civilian population of Ukraine in order to destroy the stability of civilian life in Ukrainian cities, weaken the sources of social support for Ukrainian troops defending their territories and population, and accelerate the process of illegal occupation of territories.

  In Mariupol, Russian troops regularly destroyed many substations and bombed distribution points for basic goods.

Similar acts were committed in Chernihiv, especially when on March 16, 2022, Russian troops fired on a bread line in a town that was almost completely without electricity and food. As a result, at least 14 civilians were killed and dozens of people who were standing in line or in nearby houses were injured.

 

Phase II. Attacks on civilian infrastructure

 

The second phase of the Russian invasion involves the destruction of critical infrastructure. Perhaps the most striking and catastrophic manifestation of this tactic is the blowing up of the Kahovska HPP dam on June 6, 2023.

 

As a result, all settlements located on the banks of the Dnieper were flooded.

The civilian population suffered the most, losing all means of movement and access to drinking water. Many people drowned.

The destruction of the Kakhovsky Reservoir dam was followed by shelling by Russian troops on the right bank of the Dnieper.

This severely limited the ability of humanitarian organizations and volunteers to help people who found themselves in flooded areas.

It will take years to assess the true consequences of this man-made disaster, its impact on the ecosystems of southern Ukraine.

Attacks on other water infrastructure across Ukraine are also being investigated, including the aftermath in Mykolaiv in April 2022 after Russian forces attacked a main water main, cutting off water to the city of 460,000 people.

This has had a detrimental effect on all areas of people's lives, including access to drinking water and the operation of hospitals.

In addition to attacks on critical infrastructure facilities, targeted attacks by Russia on places where humanitarian aid is provided can also be monitored. For example, Kherson is shelled every day, and representatives of humanitarian missions in Ukraine claim that Russian troops are deliberately shelling humanitarian aid warehouses in the city.

Specifically, such shelling took place on December 15, 2022, as well as on December 5 and 20, 2023.

 

Phase III. Transformation of agriculture into weapons

 

This final stage aims to destroy the way of life of Ukrainians and destroy the foundations of society. Using agriculture as a weapon causes damage that goes beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis or destruction.

In July and August 2023 alone, Russian troops destroyed more than 270,000 tons of food. In addition to attacks on food facilities, as noted in the Global Rights Compliance 2023 report, the seizure of grain by Russian forces and associated actors involves well-coordinated advance planning as part of a broader, systematic strategy to weaponize Ukrainian grain.

This strategy includes extensive control of silos, road and rail infrastructure, as well as the use of port facilities in the occupied territories.

Such actions, combined with Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and subsequent attacks on agricultural infrastructure, culminating in the summer of 2023, demonstrate a concerted strategy to use Ukrainian grain as a weapon, including targeting grain recipients in vulnerable third countries where grains are exported.

The widespread use of landmines and other explosive devices as a result of the war also severely limited agricultural activities, resulting in crop losses.

The war crime of starvation creates a critical narrative that can accurately capture the criminal nature of these acts.

A comprehensive analysis of these, at first glance, individual incidents becomes a powerful tool that allows you to build actions against the Russian middle and top command in the military and political power vertical.

 

The frequency and similarity of such attacks is related to the impact they cause: the need for adults to stand in lines for hours for water and food, the fear of children left on the street that turns into terror when the mother who went to fetch water does not return.

This is what the war crime of starvation looks like and it is a story that needs to be told to the world.

Two years have passed since Russia launched a major war against Ukraine, but attempts to destroy Ukraine continue to be futile.

Of course, a large part of the territory of Ukraine is still occupied, cities and towns are attacked every day, but the Ukrainian spirit cannot be destroyed by rockets.

In fact, what was calculated to destroy and divide the Ukrainians united and gave them the strength to continue their resistance.

Global Rights Compliance has documented starvation crimes in South Sudan, Tigray (Ethiopia), Yemen and, most recently, Gaza.

The large-scale and systemic crimes related to starvation in Ukraine over the past two years, as well as the extent of the damage Russia has inflicted on Ukrainian children, women and men, cannot be ignored, as they indicate the real intentions of the Kremlin.