By Catriona Murdoch, Partner and Head of Starvation Portfolio at Global Rights Compliance
The unlawful full-scale invasion by Russia against Ukraine, and Russia’s unprecedented use of violence and destruction has, in one form or another, rightly dominated our headlines over the last two years. Yet there is a compelling narrative being unpicked about a particular facet of this war, which is often misunderstood, misreported and under investigated – the Russian use of starvation against Ukrainian civilians.
What do we mean when we talk about the crime of starvation, a term which conjures up images of famine, sub-Saharan conflicts and destitution, and may more recently trigger thoughts of Gaza? And what does this crime look like outside the rubric of famine and severe food insecurity? The answer is in Ukraine.
The essence of the war crime of starvation is the deliberate deprivation of anything essential to survive coupled with the intention to starve civilians. It is the deprivation of not just food and water, but shelter, medicine, humanitarian aid, livelihoods, electricity, and fuel. The sustained attacks on energy infrastructure seen during the winter of 2022 and 2023 in Ukraine is but one example.
Ukraine knows this all too well remembering the mass famine, the Holodomor, perpetrated by the same attacking state which currently looms in the shadows. Holodomor, in the Ukrainian language, голод (holod) means “hunger” and холод (kholod) means “cold”. The fear felt by ordinary people as critical infrastructure continues to be targeted, cutting off their supply to electricity, water, heat, is palpable and the knock-on effects on critical healthcare facilities that we are seeing on the ground is harrowing.
For two years, my team at Global Rights Compliance has documented in meticulous detail, through comprehensive analyses of open-source intelligence including photographs, videos, public statements by officials, and other digital data, how the weaponisation of food in Ukraine has formed an integral part of the conflict dynamics and has manifested in three distinct phases. First by laying siege to civilian inhabited areas and attacking cutting off access to essential items; second, by patterned attacks against civilian infrastructure; and third, by weaponising agriculture by preventing or restricting exports of Ukrainian grain, characterised by repeated attacks against grain facilities.
Phase I – Siege warfare
Russian forces lay siege to civilian inhabited areas, encircling cities such as Mariupol and Chernihiv, and deliberately attack and cut off access to food, water, as well as electricity and energy supplies. The tactic is overwhelmingly aimed at Ukrainian civilian residents, in order to erode the viability of civilian life under opposition control, weaken and beleaguer the social support bases of defending Ukrainian troops, and accelerate the unlawful capture of territory.
Russian forces routinely damaged multiple energy substations located throughout Mariupol and bombed distribution points erected to ration out the bare essentials. Similar conduct was perpetrated in Chernihiv, including on 16 March 2022, when Russian forces shelled a bread queue, killing at least 14 civilians and injuring dozens in the queue and in buildings nearby. In addition to intentional deprivation, starvation crimes in Ukraine regularly include looting and pillage, and have manifested through persecution, collective punishment, and incidents of forced displacement, often in acts intended to spread terror among the civilian population.
Phase II – Attacks against civilian infrastructure
The second phase of Russia’s onslaught includes the destruction of critical infrastructure, with perhaps the most pronounced and devastating example on 6 June 2023, when Russian forces breached the Kakhovka Dam with pre-emplaced explosives. The overall damage unleashed a torrent of water onto civilian inhabited areas. Exacerbating the attack, the destruction was coupled with shelling by Russian forces along the right bank of the Dnipro River, severely impeding the ability of aid organisations and humanitarian volunteers to assist those caught in flooded and otherwise affected areas. The full impact of this attack, including upon ecosystems will take years to assess as large areas remain under occupation.
Attacks on other water pipelines across Ukraine are also being investigated including the impact felt in Mykolaiv in April 2022 after a major water pipeline was attacked by Russian forces, cutting off the water supply to a population of 460,000, impacting farming, hospitals.
Humanitarian aid is also routinely attacked with Red Cross Ukraine representatives commenting that Russian forces are deliberately targeting humanitarian centres and an evacuation train in Kherson. Such attacks have recently occurred on 5 and 20, December 2023.
Phase III – Weaponisation of agriculture
This final phase is targeted at Ukraine’s way of life and seeks to tear apart the fabric of the community, leaving an impact long beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis or destruction. In July and August 2023 alone, Russian forces destroyed over 270,000 tonnes of the foodstuff. Beyond attacks, and as noted in our 2023 report, grain extraction by Russian forces and affiliated actors involves a highly coordinated level of pre-planning which forms part of the broader, systematic strategy to weaponise Ukraine’s grain, involving the large-scale control of grain elevators, road and rail infrastructure, and the use of port facilities in occupied territories. Such conduct, coupled with Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and ensuing attacks against grain infrastructure which peaked last summer, demonstrates a concerted pattern to weaponise Ukrainian grain, including against the intended recipients of grain exports situated in vulnerable third-States beyond Ukraine’s borders. The widespread use of landmines and other remnants of war have also severely curtailed agricultural activities leading to harvests being lost.
The war crime of starvation provides a critically important narrative which can accurately capture the criminality of these acts. A holistic analysis of these seemingly isolated incidents become a powerful tool that enables cases to be built against mid-level or senior Russian leaders up the military or political chains of responsibility. The narrative allows us to momentarily quiet the noise of relentless bombardment campaigns, stand back and discern what is unfolding. What lawful purpose can there be to attack civilians queuing for bread, why repeatedly bomb hospitals, why would an attacking party routinely strike humanitarian facilities? It is these questions and others which must be asked.
Russia’s attempts to destroy Ukraine have not been successful. Yes, the large territory of Ukraine is still occupied, cities and towns are attacked daily, but the Ukrainian spirit is not something that can be destroyed by missiles. Something so calculated to ruin and divide, has in fact united Ukrainians, and given them the strength to continue their brave resistance.
The widespread and systematic perpetration of starvation-related crimes being carried out blatantly across Ukraine over the past two years, and the scale of harm caused by Russia against Ukrainian children, women and men, must be confronted.