KYIV -- Ukraine has sued Russia at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, accusing Moscow of acts of "terrorism" and "discrimination" related to its backing separatists in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula



The Foreign Ministry filed the lawsuit late on January 16 at the request of President Petro Poroshenko. “Therefore, we have filed our case to hold the Russian Federation accountable for these violations and to vindicate the fundamental rights of the Ukrainian people under these treaties, to which the Russian Federation is a signatory.”

The separatists have committed “acts of terrorism” with Russian weapons, including the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, a statement from his ministry said. In the case announced Tuesday by the International Court of Justice, Ukraine accused Moscow of “intervening militarily in Ukraine, financing acts of terrorism, and violating the human rights of millions of Ukraine’s citizens.”

Kiev further alleged that Moscow’s takeover of Crimea “brazenly defied the U.N. Charter, seizing a part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory by military force.”

Fighting between Ukrainian government troops and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,600 people in eastern Ukraine since it began in 2014.
Ukraine sues Russia at the International Court of Justice, accusing the latter of being engaged in acts of "terrorism" and "discrimination" in eastern Ukraine and Crimea.