The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a landmark ruling on 9 July, finding Russia responsible for widespread human rights violations during its war against Ukraine and the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Why does this matter? It’s the first time an international court has held Moscow accountable for human rights violations since Russia’s invasion began in 2014.

The case combined four separate legal challenges into one massive proceeding. Ukraine filed complaints about systematic abuses in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk, including something particularly disturbing: the kidnapping of children from orphanages and their deportation to Russia. The Netherlands joined with its own application over MH17. Then Ukraine added a fourth complaint covering violations since the 2022 full-scale invasion.

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What did the court actually find? The Russian violations include:

• killings of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers
• torture
• arbitrary detention
• forced displacement through so-called “filtration” camps
• systematic suppression of the Ukrainian language.

But here’s what makes this ruling unprecedented: 26 countries and an international organization joined as third parties. That level of international backing is extraordinary.

Ukrainian judge Mykola Hnatovskyi put it bluntly: this is “probably the largest and most important case in the entire history of the ECHR.”

Ukraine’s lawyers forge unprecedented international case against Russia for decade

Behind this landmark ruling lies years of painstaking legal work. Marharyta Sokorenko, the Commissioner for ECHR Affairs at Ukraine’s Justice Ministry, called the case “the culmination of a long and thorny path of fierce legal confrontation for law and truth.”

How grueling was the process? Sokorenko described it as “the result of more than ten years of complex work, sometimes ‘on the edge’ and ‘this is the last time,’ by the entire team.” She added that Ukrainian lawyers “were pioneers in forming the interstate lawsuit and evidence base.”

For the legal team, this wasn’t just another case. “For each of us, this case goes far beyond official duties,” Sokorenko wrote on Facebook ahead of the ruling.

Russia missile attack killed 298 people in MH17 air crash

On 17 July 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-supplied Buk missile. All 298 passengers and crew members died, including 196 Dutch nationals—making it one of the deadliest aviation disasters in Dutch history.

The human cost extends far beyond the immediate tragedy. A decade later, research by Professor Jos de Keijser from the University of Groningen reveals that one in eight families of the victims still struggle with severe, chronic grief. These survivors face insomnia, depression, PTSD, and concentration problems that persist years after the disaster.

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Russia controlled part of Ukraine where plane was hit

For nearly a decade, families of the 298 people killed when MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine waited for justice. Now they have it—sort of.

The European court determined Russia was responsible for downing the Malaysia Airlines flight on 17 July 2014. This marks the first international judicial finding holding Russia accountable for the disaster.

How solid is the evidence? A Joint Investigation Team from five countries spent years building the case. Last November, a Dutch court sentenced three men to life imprisonment: Russians Igor Girkin-Strelkov and Sergey Dubinsky, plus Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko. They remain out of prison because Russia has refused to extradite its citizens. The court also ordered over €16 million in compensation to victims’ families.

Crucially, during that verdict reading, The Hague District Court also recognized that Russia controlled the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” from at least May 2014—months before MH17 was destroyed.

Netherlands Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans called the ECHR decision “an important step toward justice.”

“The suffering of the relatives of MH-17 is immense, intensified by Russia’s denial. Now the European Court confirms what we have known for 10 years: Russia is responsible. I hope it contributes to processing the grief,” Brekelmans wrote.

Russia denies involvement. But the evidence trail led investigators to conclude Moscow’s control began well before the tragedy occurred.

Court recognizes Russia wants to destroy Ukraine

The court ordered Russia:

1. to release all people illegally detained in occupied territories
2. cooperate in creating an international mechanism to identify kidnapped children and return them to their families.

Will Russia comply? History suggests no. Moscow has ignored international court rulings before.

But Ukraine’s Justice Ministry sees this differently. They called the ruling “unprecedented” and noted the court satisfied nearly all government complaints. More importantly, the court recognized something Ukrainian officials have argued for years: Russia is conducting “a targeted campaign to destroy the Ukrainian state as a subject of international law.”

The ministry went further, stating that the court found “Russia’s aggression is not limited to Ukraine—it is a global threat that questions the very idea of coexistence of states in the legal field. In particular, Russia demonstrates hostility toward other member states of the Council of Europe.”

Ukrainian judge Hnatovskyi explained why this case stands apart: “No previous conflicts examined showed such unanimous condemnation by the international community of the respondent state’s flagrant disregard for the principles of international legal order established after World War II.”

What’s the broader significance? This ruling doesn’t just address past violations—it creates legal precedent for holding Russia accountable for systematic human rights abuses. The question now is whether international pressure can translate into meaningful consequences for Moscow’s actions.

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Editor's Note: This story has been updated with additional details from Ukraine's Foreign Ministry.

A bus carrying Ukrainian children veered off the road and overturned on a Hungarian highway on July 6, leaving 21 people injured, Ukraine's embassy in Hungary reported.

The accident occurred at around 5 a.m. local time between the settlements of Kunszentmarton and Tiszafoldvar. According to preliminary information, the driver lost control of the bus and veered off the road into a ditch. Further details as to the cause of the crash have not yet been determined.

The bus was carrying a children's ensemble from the Ukrainian city of Lviv to Ohrid in North Macedonia for a dance festival. There were 77 people aboard at the time of the accident, including two drivers, chaperones, and ensemble members.

Twenty-one people were injured, with four of them reported to be in serious condition. Two of the seriously injured victims are teenagers (ages 14 and 18) while the other two are adults (ages 67 and 71). Four more children suffered moderate injuries, while the remaining victims suffered minor injuries.

No one was killed, according to the embassy's statement.

The victims were transferred to hospitals in the towns of Szolnok, Kecskemetre, and Szentes.

Rescuers are working at the crash site, along with Ukrainian Ambassador Fegyir Sandor and consuls assisting Ukrainian citizens.

The rest of the passengers are staying temporarily at the Kunszentmarton Cultural Center, where they have been provided food and a place to rest. Those suffering moderate and mild injuries will join the main group at this location.

The bus carrier is reportedly taking measures to prevent additional accidents.

Ukraine war latest: Russia pounds Kyiv with record overnight drone, missile attack, 1 dead, 26 injured

Key developments on July 4: * ‘Nothing but terror and murder’ — Russia pounds Kyiv with record overnight drone, missile attack, 1 dead, 26 injured * Zelensky, Trump discuss air defense, joint drone production amid Russian strikes * ‘There is also good news’ — Ukrainian drones hit key military optics plant in Russia, General Staff

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Life for children in Ukraine has become increasingly dangerous and deadly, according to the latest U.N. figures, which show a threefold jump in the number of deaths and injuries among children over the three months ending in May.

From March through May, 222 children were killed or injured, compared to 73 in the preceding three months, according to a press release from the U.N. Humanitarian Aid Organization for Children (UNICEF) on July 4.

The statement noted that "the ongoing use of explosive weapons in populated areas has been particularly deadly and destructive."

"There is no respite from the war for children across Ukraine," UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, Regina De Dominicis, said. "The situation for children is at a critical juncture, as intense attacks continue to not only destroy lives but disrupt every aspect of childhood."

In April alone, UNICEF noted, 97 children were killed or maimed, which was the highest figure that the U.N. has been able to verify since June 2022. Among the attacks in April was a strike on a playground in Kryvyi Rih, which killed nine children.

Recent months have seen some of the war's deadliest attacks on civilians, as Russia steps up its aerial strikes on civilian areas and launches record numbers of drones. Russia has dramatically increased its production of these weapons and is now capable of launching in a single night as many drones as it did over an entire month in early summer 2024.

At the same time, the U.S has halted a shipment of weapons that includes air defense missiles, which Ukraine critically needs to defend itself from Russia's attacks.

‘Nothing but terror and murder’ — Russia pounds Kyiv with ballistic missiles in massive overnight attack

Fires broke out across the city as Russia attacked the capital overnight on July 4. At least 23 people have been injured, with 14 of the victims hospitalized.

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced a resolution in Congress demanding the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, according to a press release published on June 30.

Kyiv estimates that Russia has abducted or forcibly displaced at least 19,500 Ukrainian children since the outbreak of the full-scale invasion of 2022, and has deported them to Russia, Belarus, or the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The resolution, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks and Michael McCaul, a Republican chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, condemns the abductions and calls for the repatriation of children even before a potential peace deal.

Senators Chuck Grassley (Republican) and Amy Klobuchar (Democrat) introduced the resolution in the Senate.

"These children have been stripped of their national identity, adopted into Russian families, or indoctrinated as soldiers for the Kremlin," McCaul said in a statement.

"Russia’s mass-scale child abduction is nothing short of evil; the United States must demonstrate moral leadership by demanding every child be returned to his or her family in Ukraine before true peace can be achieved."

The Trump administration has previously cut funding for a Yale University-based Ukraine Conflict Observatory tracking the abduction of Ukrainian children. Nathaniel Raymond, the executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab overseeing the effort, has said the operation would cease on July 1 due to the lack of funds.

Since its launch in May 2022, the observatory has compiled evidence of Russian war crimes, including the deportation of Ukrainian children, many of whom were sent to reeducation camps or adopted by Russian families.

The database suggested that the actual number of abducted Ukrainian children could be higher than the figure provided by Ukraine's Children of War database, placing it as high as 30,000. Over 1,360 children have been brought back home.

According to the resolution newly introduced in Congress, "Russia's abduction and Russification of Ukrainian children demonstrates the intent of the Government of the Russian Federation to erase the Ukrainian nation and identity."

The document also says that Russia's invasion "has significantly increased the risks of children being exposed to human trafficking and exploitation, child labor, sexual violence, hunger, injury, trauma, deprivation of education and shelter, and death."

Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, called the resolution "an important step in support of justice and peace."

The abductions have been widely denounced as war crimes and violations of international law. In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and children’s rights ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova over their roles in the deportation of Ukrainian minors.

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The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk

Russia is using financial incentives to recruit teachers, cultural workers, and coaches to work in occupied parts of Ukraine in a campaign aimed at reshaping local identity and fostering loyalty to Moscow’s regime, according to a report published by the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) on June 26.

The Kremlin is offering up to two million rubles (around $22,000) to Russian teachers who agree to work for five years in occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, and one million rubles for positions in Crimea.

The initiative, an extension of Russia’s “Zemskyi Uchitel” (Rural Teacher) program, which originally targeted underserved regions in Russia, was formally launched in the newly occupied Ukrainian territories in 2024 — though Russian educators began arriving as early as 2022.

Over 100 teachers have relocated to Crimea through the program, according to Ukraine’s Regional Center for Human Rights/ Most of them arrived from regions including Krasnodar, Altai Krai, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Saratov, Tyumen, Ivanovo, and the Republic of Udmurtia.

“We have documented cases of teachers — and people assigned to managerial roles, such as school principals and deputy heads — arriving as early as 2022,” said Kateryna Rashevska of Ukraine’s Regional Center for Human Rights. “The first group came from Dagestan, arriving in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, and by 2024, there were already 37 teachers from Dagestan working there.”

According to Rashevska, these teachers often lead courses in Russian language, history, and “basics of life safety and defense of the Motherland” — classes focused on conscription and military training. “These people are also involved in reprogramming Ukrainian children, attempting to raise them as Russian patriots and future members of the Russian armed forces,” she added.

In parallel, Russia is also exerting pressure on Ukrainian teachers in occupied areas to adopt the Russian curriculum. Those who refuse face serious consequences. "In Berdiansk, a school principal was deported for refusing to open the school under Russian standards," said Mariia Sulialina, head of Ukrainian NGO Almenda. Sulialina noted that teachers are now required to praise President Vladimir Putin and report "extremist behavior" among students — often defined as pro-Ukrainian views.

Human rights experts say these efforts amount to colonization and are violations of international law, including Article 49 of the Geneva Convention and Article 8 of the Rome Statute.

“Russia plans to move another 100 teachers into occupied areas in 2025 — a clear example of colonization,” Rashevska said. Despite existing legal tools, she added, “The International Criminal Court still doesn’t prioritize colonization… even though these federally coordinated programs involving teachers, cultural workers, and coaches create a clear chain of command.”

Putin under pressure to declare war on Ukraine, but experts say Russia isn’t ready

Despite suffering over 1 million casualties, pounding Ukrainian cities nightly with missiles and drones, and committing countless war crimes, one startling fact about Russia’s full-scale invasion remains — Moscow has yet to officially declare war on Ukraine. In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin described what he believed was going to be a swift victory and the capture of Kyiv within days as a “special military operation.” Nearly three-and-a-half years later, the Kremlin is stuck

The Kyiv IndependentChris York

Russia has transferred 50 children from the occupied Antratsyt district of Luhansk Oblast to a so-called rehabilitation camp in Kalmykia, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) reported on June 14.

Kalmykia is about 1,170 km (726 miles) by air from Moscow, and its western border lies roughly 300 km (186 miles) from the nearest point on the Russia–Ukraine border.

According to the center, while the "Lesnaya Skazka" ("Forest Fairy Tale") camp is officially described as hosting sports and creative activities, in fact, it functions as a site of "round-the-clock ideological brainwashing, systemic Russification, and an attempt to erase Ukrainian identity."

Since February 2022, at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories and sent to other Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine or to Russia itself, according to a Ukrainian national database, "Children of War." Only 1,359 children have been returned thus far.

The center compared the camp in Kalmykia to "Krasnaya Gvozdika," ("Red Carnation") a facility in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, saying both are used not for recreation, but as tools of Russia’s war strategy.

“These camps have become instruments of assimilation where Ukrainian children are taught distorted history, exposed to Russian propaganda, and conditioned to show loyalty to the Putin regime,” the center said. “War and hostility are normalized, with children being groomed as human resources for future conflicts.”

The watchdog emphasized that separating children from their families, culture, and language places them under the full control of the occupying power — a practice it says constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and forms part of Russia’s broader genocidal policy toward Ukraine.

In response to Russia’s efforts to indoctrinate Ukrainian children, President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 10 imposed sanctions on 48 individuals and nine organizations associated with the deportation of Ukrainian children, according to a decision of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).

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The Kyiv IndependentElena Kalinichenko

Ukraine successfully brought back five children who had been forcibly taken to Russia as well as Russian-occupied territory, Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak announced on June 12.

The children have been returned home under the President of Ukraine’s initiative, Bring Kids Back UA, according to Yermak.

"We are fulfilling the President's mission — to bring back every Ukrainian child," Yermak said in an statement.

Since February 2022, at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories and sent to other Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine or to Russia itself, according to a Ukrainian national database, "Children of War." Only 1,359 children have been returned thus far.

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, estimated that Russia has unlawfully deported up to 150,000 Ukrainian children, while the Children’s Ombudswoman, Daria Herasymchuk, puts the figure at 200,000–300,000.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, citing their involvement in the unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children. Russia dismissed the ICC's decision as "outrageous and unacceptable."

Under orders from Putin, children were transported via military aircraft in 2022, reclassified in Russian databases as native-born, and subjected to pro-Russian re-education before being adopted into Russian families. Ukrainian children had been transported to at least 21 regions throughout Russia.

Child abductions have played a key part of U.S.-Russia peace negotiations — all of which Russia has thus far rejected. Ukrainian officials have named their return as a key condition for any future peace agreement with Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 3 that during the Istanbul negotiations, Russian representatives dismissed the issue of abducted Ukrainian children as a "show for childless European old ladies" and acknowledged deporting several hundred children.

CNN reported on June 11 that the Yale University-based Humanitarian Research Lab, which spearheads the Ukraine Conflict Observatory is preparing to shut down after its funding was terminated by the Trump administration.

A Yale study published on Dec. 3 detailed Russia's systematic program of deporting and forcibly assimilating Ukrainian children.

With only 2 weeks of funding left, US group tracking Russian abduction of Ukrainian children prepares to shut down

“Right now, we are running on fumes,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, told CNN. “As of July 1, we lay off all of our staff across Ukraine and other teams, and our work tracking the kids officially ends.”

The Kyiv IndependentAnna Fratsyvir