Comprehending the hybrid war against Ukraine: the legal aspect

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the concept of “hybrid war” taking into account the latest research in legal science. On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation began active hostilities against our state, but the real hybrid war was started by the aggressor country 8 years ago. Then, in 2014, Russian soldiers without any insignia (the so-called “little green men”) treacherously seized and occupied the Crimean peninsula, and, together with hired soldiers, launched an offensive into eastern Ukraine. The enemy used various methods and tools for conducting a hybrid confrontation – economic and diplomatic means, psychological, informational, and cybernetic subversive activities. And today it is important to understand what a hybrid war is in its essence, as well as to know how to put up worthy resistance to it, especially at the legal level. And although the concept of hybrid warfare is not new, it has gained particular importance and relevance precisely in the last decade due to the use of non-traditional warfare methods, the involvement of non-state actors, and the active introduction of information technologies to subjugate other actors without using direct armed conflict. As the target of the hybrid war of the Russian Federation, our state is a unique example of the invincibility, courage, and strength that Ukraine has been demonstrating since independence, but especially brightly since 2014. The paper, among other things, examines in detail the essence and characteristics of the hybrid war that the Russian Federation has been conducting against Ukraine during the last 8 years. The definition of hybrid warfare, irregular warfare, cyber warfare, and related legal categories is given. The importance of defining the concept of hybrid war is explained by the need to formulate ideas about the current and future problems of Ukraine’s state security on its basis. The article is based on the understanding of hybrid warfare as a military strategy that uses political warfare in combination with “conventional” warfare, i.e. , the use of legal instruments and interference in state elections by foreign agents The main national legal and regulatory sources containing the norms of countering hybrid warfare are analyzed. The author’s recommendations on methods of combating the aggression of the Russian Federation in the legal field are given. Key words: hybrid warfare, information war, innovative warfare, cyber war, russian invasion of Ukraine.