Environmental Destruction in Eastern Ukraine: The Limits of International Law and the Emerging Concept of Ecocide

This dissertation investigates the extent to which current international humanitarian law and international criminal law address environmental harm resulting from armed conflict. Focusing on eastern Ukraine as a case study, it evaluates the effectiveness of the existing legal framework and its mechanisms in responding to large-scale environmental damage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The findings indicate that the Geneva Conventions, Additional Protocol I, the ENMOD Convention, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provide fragmented, primarily anthropocentric protection. In particular, high thresholds of harm, restrictive mens rea requirements, and a strong emphasis on military necessity significantly limit their effectiveness. Through case studies on the destruction of forests and protected areas, industrial and toxic pollution, and damage to water infrastructure, the dissertation identifies structural and evidentiary accountability gaps in the regulation of conflict-related environmental harm. In response, the dissertation introduces ecocide as an emerging legal concept and analyses its potential to address the limitations identified in the current framework. It further examines whether the concept of ecocide more effectively captures and addresses serious environmental harm in contemporary armed conflicts.