On July 9, 2025, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued landmark decisions finding that Russia has committed grave violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine since 2014.

The court’s rulings addressed four inter-state applications brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands. The consolidated complaints concerned violations spanning from the 2014 conflict in eastern Ukraine through Russia’s full-scale invasion beginning February 24, 2022, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), multiple violations of the Geneva Conventions, and systematic human rights abuses.

In a unanimous judgment, the ECHR found that Russia exercised effective control over the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic” from 2014 and held jurisdiction over military attacks on Ukrainian territory. The court determined that acts of separatist forces were attributable to Russia as its de facto organs.

In its findings, the ECHR determined that Russia “used violence against detainees, both civilian and military” and that individuals were “tortured and ill-treated and subjected to inhuman conditions of detention.” The court referred to evidence of “widespread and systemic use of sexual violence by armed separatists and Russian troops,” including “rapes being committed at gunpoint, with extreme brutality and accompanied by acts of torture.” The judges stated that “the systematic rape of women as a weapon of war was an act of extreme atrocity that amounted to torture.”

Regarding the downing of MH17, the court found Russia violated Article 2 by deploying a Buk-TELAR missile system without proper safeguards, resulting in 298 civilian deaths. The ECHR determined Russia failed to conduct an effective investigation and actively obstructed international inquiries.

The court ruled that Russia engaged in administrative practices of forced labour, including forcing detainees to perform demining work prohibited under IHL. The ECHR also found systematic unlawful detention, forced displacement of civilians, and the transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children to Russia—a practice the court determined violated Articles 3, 5, and 8 of the Convention.

Under Article 46, the court ordered Russia to immediately release all persons unlawfully detained before September 16, 2022, and to cooperate in establishing a mechanism for identifying and reunifying Ukrainian children transferred to Russia with their families.

The ECHR retains jurisdiction over violations occurring before September 16, 2022, when Russia ceased to be a party to the Convention following its expulsion from the Council of Europe. This decision marks the first instance of an international tribunal holding Russia accountable for human rights violations in Ukraine.

Russia did not participate in the proceedings. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated, “We consider [the decisions] null and void.”