The implementation of the Rome Statute in Ukraine remains incomplete
17 July 2026 12:07Ukraine ratified the Rome Statute on August 21, 2024, and it entered into force for the country on January 1, 2025. On October 9, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada also adopted an implementing law designed to bring Ukrainian legislation into line with the provisions of the document. At the same time, the implementation process is still ongoing, noted Andriy Yakovlev, a lawyer and expert on international humanitarian law with the Media Initiative for Human Rights, in a column for “Ukrainska Pravda.”
The Rome Statute, adopted on July 17, 1998, laid the foundation for the activities of the International Criminal Court. The document contains a systematic catalog of international crimes, including war crimes listed in Article 8. According to the author of the column, as of 2026, 125 states are parties to the Statute, while the United States, China, India, Russia, Israel, and Turkey remain outside its framework.
Russia signed the Statute in 2000 but did not ratify it, and in 2016 notified the UN of its unwillingness to become a State Party. At the same time, as Yakovlev explains, this does not prevent the ICC from investigating genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine. Ukraine has recognized the court’s jurisdiction through two declarations under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute. Therefore, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Ukraine since February 20, 2014, fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC regardless of the suspects’ nationality.
Different rules apply to the crime of aggression: in the author’s assessment, the ICC cannot exercise jurisdiction over citizens of a state that is not a party to the Statute without a referral from the UN Security Council. As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia can block such a decision with its veto power. This is precisely why Yakovlev considers the establishment of a Special Tribunal on the crime of aggression to be critically important.
According to the author, the implementing law added provisions on crimes against humanity to the Criminal Code, updated the provisions on war crimes, and established liability for military commanders. Further work, in his view, should include revising Articles 437 and 438 of the Criminal Code and creating a detailed catalog of war crimes. This is necessary for a more precise classification of torture, sexual violence, deportation, or the unlawful displacement of civilians, as well as for establishing liability not only for perpetrators but also for organizers and leaders.
