Civilian Infrastructure Research Articles

The existence of Putin's Russia is a Threat to International Law and Order (on the example of aggressive actions in Ukraine)

The article analyzes the causes, preconditions, geopolitical and geohistorical goals of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. The reaction of the West to the Russian geostrategy of revenge has been clarified. It has been proven that the hybrid war which has been going on since February 2014 has created a deep crisis in the global security system. The Russian Federation, having violated the norms and principles of international law, bilateral and large-scale agreements, annexed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. Russia attacked Ukraine without declaring war and again called into question the international order in Europe on February 24, 2022, when the Russian leader announced the launch of a "special military operation" against Ukraine. He called its goal the "demilitarization" of the country. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation began shelling the cities of Ukraine and its military and civilian infrastructure. The recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics by Russian President Vladimir Putin preceded this madness on February 21, 2022. However, the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation has deep historical roots. The absorption of Ukraine and its human resources is one of the key tasks in the development of the project of Russian imperialism. The current process of formation and development of Putin's Russia has always been accompanied by war with Ukraine. Russia aimed to destroy our young state. The history of relations between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples is a chronicle of wars, the liberation struggles of Ukrainians, and a consistent policy of Russification and assimilation of our people.

Comprehensive National Defense: Applications for National Defense of Pakistan

Pakistan is a state besieged by many internal and external threats. This paper analyses the relationship between wide-ranging social, structural and economic threats as well as institutional and structural issues that exist within the country's institutional frameworks and seeks to propose adoption a 'Comprehensive National Defense' approach which seeks to integrate the entire military and civilian capacity of a nation in an effort to create an invincible defense. Application of this would require a radical shift from traditional bureaucratic and military structures inherited from the colonial era in an effort to create a more inclusive military and civilian infrastructure capable of thwarting physical and non-physical threats including informational psychological threats. A key aspect of Comprehensive National Defense is enhanced deterrence capability by building infrastructures and institutions as well as training of the general population to ensure the survivability of the state in the eventuality of a full scale or nuclear confrontation.

Global effort to evacuate Ukrainian children with cancer and blood disorders who have been affected by war

On Feb 24, 2022, Russian military forces began a coordinated invasion of Ukraine. Russian assaults resulted in widespread damage to densely populated residential areas and critical civilian infrastructure, including power stations, transportation hubs, schools, and health care facilities. As a result, more than 10 million refugees have fled Ukraine, approximately 50% fleeing to Poland. Attacks on Ukraine's health system and pharmaceutical supply chains created challenges for the provision of critical services for people with injuries and chronic illnesses.

LIABILITY MECHANISMS FOR WAR CRIMES COMMITTED AS A RESULT OF RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE IN FEBRUARY 2022: TYPES, CHRONICLE OF THE FIRST STEPS, AND PROBLEMS

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are investigating more than 18,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression, including 18,177 violations of the laws and customs of war, more than 5,000 murders and 6,000 civilian injuries, and about 23,000 destructions of civilian infrastructure. We note these figures without considering the number of crimes committed in the occupied territories and the places of active hostilities. The number of crimes increases every day. War crimes are a type of international crime, along with the crime of aggression, crimes against humanity, and genocide, which russia[1] is committing in Ukraine. However, in the article’s title, the term ‘war crimes’ is used in a unifying context. The researchers outline the range of war crimes and note the lack of systematisation due to the non-ratification of the Rome Statute by Ukraine, which significantly complicates the qualification of crimes for practicing lawyers. The authors then analyse such mechanisms of bringing the military, officers, and officials of russia to justice as: а) the International Criminal Court (ICC), b) ad hoc tribunals, с) the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), d) national judicial systems on the principle of universal jurisdiction e) criminal proceedings of Ukraine, f) eclectic forms of cooperation of justice bodies of Ukraine with foreign and international partners, together with the chronology of the first steps for each. The rationality of the establishment of a special international ad hoc tribunal exists because of the duration of the proceedings in the IСС, the ІСС workload and lack of funding, and the non-extension of the ICC jurisdiction to the crime of aggression due to Ukraine’s non-ratification of the Rome Statute; ensuring the impartiality of the court in the eyes of the international community. The authors draw the attention of the Ukrainian legislator to the need to improve the logistics of using foreign forensic experts’ opinions in criminal proceedings on war crimes in Ukraine by amending the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) on the procedure for its verification as sources of evidence. The research methodology includes logical, historical, statistical, comparative law, and system-structural methods. The information base consisted of international legal acts, national legislation, official resources of authorities and international institutions, and other open data.

Optimization of blast mitigating sandwich structures with fiber-reinforced face sheets and PVC foam layers as core

It is challenging to find lightweight blast mitigating structures for protecting civilian and military infrastructure. Here we synthesize a surrogate optimization algorithm with a numerical technique to analyze dynamic deformations of sandwich structures with fiber-reinforced face sheets perfectly bonded to eight PVC foam layers, and to simultaneously minimize the structural mass and maximize its blast mitigating capabilities. The eighteen variables to be optimized are thicknesses of the two face sheets and of the eight foam layers and the lay-up of the core layers such that either the total reaction force transmitted to a rigid substrate or the deflection of the back face is minimized. The deformations of the structure and the pressure produced by detonating a charge are simulated using the commercial finite element software ABAQUS. The progressive damage and delamination between adjacent layers of the face sheets and their debonding from the core are, respectively, considered using a user-defined subroutine and a cohesive zone model. It is found that for an optimum structure, the mass density and the elastic modulus of the core layers does not continuously vary through the thickness, i.e., the core is not comprised of a functionally graded foam. The low (high) density foam layers minimize the total reaction force (the back face deflection).

Cyber Threats and Nuclear Security in India

State and non-state actors are increasingly using cyberspace as a platform to execute hybrid warfare. As multiple incidents in India have shown critical infrastructures, particularly nuclear infrastructures, have been lucrative targets of cyber-attacks. Considering India’s well-progressing civilian and military nuclear infrastructures, it is apposite to raise the question of how safe these nuclear infrastructures are from cyber threats. This article suggests that India’s nuclear infrastructures will remain exposed to cyber-attacks due to their strategic significance for India’s national security. These threats will continue to exploit the zero-day vulnerabilities in the cyber-physical systems of these infrastructures. Further, the article looks into the threat sources, consequences and mitigation strategies against cyber-attacks on nuclear infrastructures. In an attempt to explore mitigation strategies, the article discusses certain cyber-attack scenarios and the consequences on India’s nuclear infrastructures. The article concludes that while certain technological cyber-defence mechanisms are in place, there is a need for legislative and diplomatic measures for developing a comprehensive set of measures to deter cyber threats to India’s nuclear infrastructures.

Theoretical foundations of Russian imperialism as a danger to the constitutional order of Ukraine and world order

Purpose. The article analyzes the causes, preconditions, geopolitical and geohistorical goals of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. The reaction of the West to the Russian geostrategy of revenge has been clarified. It has been proven that the hybrid war which has been going on since February 2014 has created a deep crisis in the global security system. The Russian Federation, having violated the norms and principles of international law, bilateral and large-scale agreements, annexed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. Methodology.The methodological basis of the article is a set of philosophical and scientific principles, approaches, and special scientific methods of understanding international legal phenomena and geopolitical processes taking place in the world. The use of these methods provided an opportunity to solve the tasks and the main task is to prove that Russia threatens international law. On this basis, a fundamental conclusion was drawn that Putin's Russia must disintegrate as an empire in order to restore world law and order. Results: Russia attacked Ukraine without declaring war and again called into question the international order in Europe on February 24, 2022, when the Russian leader announced the launch of a "special military operation" against Ukraine. He called its goal the "demilitarization" of the country. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation began shelling the cities of Ukraine and its military and civilian infrastructure. The recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics by Russian President Vladimir Putin preceded this madness on February 21, 2022. However, the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation has deep historical roots. The absorption of Ukraine and its human resources is one of the key tasks in the development of the project of Russian imperialism. The current process of formation and development of Putin's Russia has always been accompanied by war with Ukraine. Russia aimed to destroy our young state. The history of relations between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples is a chronicle of wars, the liberation struggles of Ukrainians, and a consistent policy of Russification and assimilation of our people.

A social-ecological systems perspective on the impacts of armed conflict on water resources management: Case studies from the Middle East

Armed conflicts disrupt social, environmental and economic processes. This includes water resources management and the provision of water services, with numerous implications for human security and environmental sustainability. Such impacts go beyond direct, immediately visible effects and can have far-reaching, long-term consequences. However, the understanding of these indirect conflict impacts in different social and political contexts is still limited. In order to address this knowledge gap, we build on the social-ecological systems framework to differentiate between direct and indirect conflict impacts and to analyze their effects on the water system. We then apply the framework to map direct and indirect impacts of armed conflict on water resources management, using empirical data from eleven cases in Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Yemen. This allows us to identify pathways in which conflict impacts are propagated through the water system. The results show the central role of financial mechanisms in upholding water resources management throughout conflict and the importance of enforcing international humanitarian law on the protection of civilian infrastructure. They also highlight the value of system-based approaches in revealing cumulative effects that can reinforce conflict impacts within the system, and in identifying potential obstacles for coping strategies employed by local populations throughout the conflict.

Leviathan’s Architect: Urbicide, Urban Renewal, and the Right to the City in Turkish Kurdistan

Urban warfare exacts a grim toll on city life as combatants target civilians and civilian infrastructure, appropriate space, and try to erase culture and memory. Often, however, it is the post-conflict razing and reconstruction that caps this violent re-ordering of urban life. This article explores securitized development of cities in Southeastern Turkey in the wake of recent armed strife between Kurdish fighters and Turkish security forces. Case studies of Sur/Diyarbakır and Nusaybin show an overlord state leveraging post-war blight to remake society from the ground up. Targeting the physical as well as social contours of cities, Ankara has displaced residents, redirected access and flow, and intensified surveillance and control. The upheaval has been disorienting for residents, but in other ways it has sharpened Kurdish identity and agency. Historical preservation and memory projects, cultural commemorations, and new models of post-war urbanism underscore the right to a city that reflects civil society rather than one that tries to reengineer it in the image of the state.

Integration of military medical services and civilian health careas a key condition for the provision of medical care to military personneland the population in the event of a large-scale military conflict.

The escalation of the military conflict in Ukraine threatens with a shortage of resources for the military medical service. The solution may be the integration of civil and military medicine - it is provided for by the military medical doctrine of NATO, but does not have a systematic implementation in the Russian Federation, which even in peacetime limits the availability of medical care to military personnel, and in the event of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine threatens to overload the military medical service . Attempts to integrate civilian and military medical infrastructure were unsuccessful due to the lack of a systematic approach to their interaction and the inability of the departments concerned to reach an agreement on the mechanisms and sources of funding.The authors propose to return to the principles of organizational integration between military and civilian medicine, which were first proposed in the ХIX century by N.I. Pirogov, successfully used by the health care of the USSR during the civil and second world wars and forgotten after the collapse of the Soviet Union. For financial and economic integration, it is proposed to include military personnel in the CHI system for medical care that military medical institutions cannot provide due to their overload, remoteness or lack of necessary specialists.It is proposed to solve the problem of paying compulsory medical insurance contributions for military personnel by replacing the compulsory medical insurance contributions paid by employers (for employees) and the subjects of the Federation (for the non-working population) with a universal compulsory medical insurance contribution automatically withheld at the same rate for all legal entities and individuals from all non-cash transactions - thereby financing additional medical guarantees for military personnel, leveling the “free rider effect” in the CHI system.

CHANGES IN MEDIA FORMATION OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN SPACES DURING THE WAR

The article highlights the characteristics of the media formation of architecture and urban spaces during the Russian military aggression against Ukraine in 2022. There was dangerous atmosphere in the cities. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not just an invasion, it is the beginning of a war against unity and human rights in the modern world. During the Russian military aggression, all spheres of life in Ukraine underwent changes. Everyday things have lost their meaning because the preservation of human life has become a priority. Many buildings have become shelters for refugees. The war spares nothing: neither cultural heritage sites nor human lives. The occupiers are attacking residential buildings and civilian infrastructure. As a result, peaceful people are suffering, there are victims among children. Urban spaces have undergone significant changes. The city's infrastructure has become martial law. The media formation of architecture has become a source of information for the security of the Ukrainians, has become a means of communication and expression of civic position. Sounds have also become an integral part of the media formation of the war in Ukrainian cities. First of all, it is the sound of sirens announcing – the air alarm and the urgent need to hide in a shelter. Information boards, banners, stands, and posters also remained an important element of the media formation of urban spaces during the war. To maintain the fighting spirit they depict revolutionary drawings and slogans. Russia's full-scale war with Ukraine is the agenda of the entire civilized world. So this difficult time has united not only Ukraine but the whole world. The Russian occupiers cannot conquer us. They will never reach our soul, our heart, our desire to live freely.

ORGANIZATION OF ENERGY EFFICIENT ECOLOGICAL SETTLEMENTS WITH PREFABRICATED MODULAR BUILDINGS FOR TEMPORARY AND LONG-TERM LIVES OF LIVING, IN CONNECTION WITH THE WAR IN UKRAINE

The cities of Ukraine are our pride! It was the envy of prominent Ukrainian cities that provoked the aggressor's attack on our native lands. It should be noted that most Russian cities, which are more remote, cannot be proud of their amenities: there is no sewerage or water supply, unpaved streets quickly turn into swamps of sticky dirt. On the 24th of February 2022, the war began, and Russian Federation attacked Ukraine on all sides of the common border, from Luhansk to Chernihiv. The enemy army fired artillery at Ukrainian border posts. Hometown Kharkiv is a city in the northeast, the first capital, the scientific center of Ukraine, subjected to massive bombing. Every day the occupiers purposefully destroy more and more civilian infrastructure, because of which the evacuation began. The news notes that in the first days of the war, every day about 30,000 people go from the Kharkiv railway station to safe places, to the west of the country and abroad. That is why the article considers the best ways to develop the territories of the western part of the country, through the organization of energy-efficient ecological settlements with prefabricated modular buildings for temporary and long-term residence of people who lost their homes because of the war. In the formation of energy-efficient ecological settlements, the main basic aspects are laid down, including: minimization of impacts on the existing natural environment, use of processes on the way to improving urban planning, implementation of rational spatial solutions, ensuring resilience of settlements to disasters and war, application renewable energy sources (use does not lead to additional heating of the atmosphere, so this energy is waste-free and does not pollute the atmosphere), ensuring efficient water supply and rational use, development of underground space and conservation of natural areas. innovative living space, with the necessary, comfortable conditions that will serve for the development of new territories and for the revival of destroyed territories because of the war.

Carpathian school: look to the future of non-formal education in Ukraine

Non-formal education is a social phenomenon that actively complements the traditional educational and scientific activities of classical educational universities. The "Third mission" of universities - education outside the classroom - is an actively developing movement in advanced countries, providing individuals with opportunities for self-development, self-realization, gaining new knowledge and practical experience. Understanding the "third" mission is an important component of success, as the social activities significantly increase the competitiveness of educational institutions in the educational services market. At this difficult time, when Ukrainian educational institutions are recovering from the Cowid-19 pandemic and Russian troops are deliberately destroying key civilian infrastructure, educators are gaining a unique opportunity to test new ways of transmitting knowledge, skills and attitudes. Non-formal education has an opportunity to implement multidisciplinary knowledge and skills directly in communities, shaping this way the values of a democratic society. This publication aims at assessing the achievements of the Carpathian School educational project and discussing ways to further develop multidisciplinary programs in response to the social demands of local communities. The issues of non-formal education are extremely important for Ukraine, especially in martial law, when uncertainty in the formation of the social consciousness of citizens is exacerbated by global political, economic and environmental challenges. The case study of the International Carpathian School gives the practice of organizing non-formal education. The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv together with partner universities, NGOs and National Nature Parks, organized the School on the border of Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi regions, in the centre of the Hutsul land. The existing network of universities, strengthened by public organizations, government and business institutions, has good prospects for establishing educational programs to support sustainable development (SD) in the Carpathian region. Authors state that non-formal education has effective tools for the formation of worldview principles of the XXI century, professional orientation and socially responsible social behaviour of the young generation

Peculiarities of operation of drinking water supply systems in wartime

The military aggression of the Russian Federation and the illegal actions of the aggressor, aimed at the deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, proved the vulnerability of centralized water supply systems. Thus, in just a few days from the beginning of the war, consumers of the cities of Mariupol, Melitopol, Volnovakha, Chernihiv, Sumy, and others were completely or partially without water supply.
 In addition to the humanitarian catastrophe due to hostilities, the cessation of centralized water supply as a factor in the vulnerability of life support systems, was actively used by the occupiers in the information war to create panic among civilians, demoralize people, mental disorders and more.
 This article analyzes the main factors of vulnerability of centralized water supply systems in Ukraine, and proposes technical and organizational measures to reduce them, which can be implemented both in the short term and in the long run.
 The factor of sustainability of water supply systems in wartime should not be considered as the only direction of planning their development, but recent events show that it is certainly a priority. Therefore, the recommendations developed in this article can be applied by water supply companies both in operational activities and in strategic planning of the development of water supply systems in the future, in particular during the development of optimization schemes.

A call for an immediate ceasefire and peaceful end to the Russian aggression against Ukraine

The Lancet–SIGHT Commission condemns the Russian Government's aggression against Ukraine and its attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including health workers and hospitals. We support the March 2, 2022 UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution ES-11/1 that “deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation”.1 The indiscriminate use of weaponry violates international humanitarian law and has caused catastrophic health impacts, especially on children, older people, and disabled persons, and social and economic disruptions that will be long lasting.

The Indian Dilemma in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has exposed the vulnerability of the Indian medical students who have little options but to study abroad due to the deficit of medical training infrastructure in India. The challenges of life in a foriegn country comes in many guieses even before the start of the invasion. India's abstention from the UN Security Council resolutions related to the conflict stems from a complicated political position and dependence on the Russian Federation for much of the military hardware.
 Not that this complicated political relationship should not necessarily affect the life and fate of Indian students - but it does. Civilians including foreign students are always affected by conflict. This leads to displacement, loss of life or limb, destruction of civilian infrastructure and a huge setback to education, health and wellbeing.
 The prevalence of bias, racism and discrimination faced by many during the mass evacuation is a double whammy and unfortunately a manifestation of the fractions that exist in such societal fabric. The Indian government's heroic efforts in evacuating over 18,000 students via Operation Ganga is commendable but a serious rethink is needed to provide the investment, infrastructure and opportunities that the India needs for it people and its future.

Abordarea amenințărilor hibride din regiunea Mării Negre din perspectiva cadrului de protecție a infrastructurilor critice

"The Black Sea region features high complexity and other factors, such as the lack of a regional security architecture, which, in the current security context, result in a high effectiveness for hybrid warfare approaches. This has been proven by the track record of hybrid and unconventional warfare operations in the region, targeting also civilian infrastructure. The article proposes a Critical Infrastructure perspective on Black Sea insecurity, highlighting the potentiality for hybrid warfare but also measures which can increase resilience to hybrid threats on the basis of the Critical Infrastructure Protection framework. Lastly, the article highlights contributions which Romania can make on the basis of its experience and success in implementing CIP."

A Critical Infrastructure Perspective and Systems Perspective on Hybrid Threats in the Black Sea Region

"The Black Sea region features high complexity and other factors, such as the lack of a regional security architecture, which, in the current security context, result in a high effectiveness for hybrid warfare approaches. This has been proven by the track record of hybrid and unconventional warfare operations in the region, targeting also civilian infrastructure. The article proposes a Critical Infrastructure perspective on Black Sea insecurity, highlighting the potentiality for hybrid warfare but also measures which can increase resilience to hybrid threats on the basis of the Critical Infrastructure Protection framework. Lastly, the article highlights contributions which Romania can make on the basis of its experience and success in implementing CIP."

Sequential Fusion Based Approach for Estimating Range Gate Pull-Off Parameter in a Networked Radar System: An ECCM Algorithm

Networked radar is an emerging and effective alternative to traditional radar systems to provide improved performance by fusing information from multiple radars. Further, networked radar systems (NRS) have found numerous deployments in military and civilian infrastructures in recent years. Electronic countermeasures (ECM) like jamming, Range Gate Pull-Off (RGPO), and Velocity Gate Pull-Off (VGPO) generally pose a high risk to the radar systems by injecting intentional interference. This paper proposes networked radar to detect the RGPO ECM attack and estimate the range gate deception parameter of the deceived local track in an NRS. Each radar comprises a local tracker to provide the local estimates (updated state and updated covariance), and these estimates are then sent to the fusion node. Thereafter, a track-to-track association (T2TA) is formulated at the fusion node to detect the deceived tracks using all the available local tracks. For the deceived track, the pseudo-measurements are created using the inverse Kalman filter-based tracklets. All the local tracks except deceived track are compensated and sequentially fused to create a reference measurement. After that, the deception parameter of the deceived track is estimated by using pseudo-measurement and the reference measurement by employing the recursive least square estimator (RLSE). In addition, the proposed algorithm is analyzed for single and multiple RGPO based ECM scenarios. Further, the Cramer Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) for the proposed methodology is derived. The results are quantified with a Position Root Mean Square Error (PRMSE), CRLB, innovation test, normalized estimation error squared (NEES) test, and confidence interval. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed estimation technique provides good performance in the presence of all the local tracks are being attacked by RGPO ECM. Besides, it is evident from the results that estimator efficiency is falling below the 5% tail probability of the chi-square distribution.

The Fundamental Role of International (Criminal) Law in the War in Ukraine

The repercussions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are reverberating around the world. The multilateral and coordinated response of the international community to Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine was immediate and has been waged on multiple fronts. While the world’s major powers are focused on the best strategies to face the ongoing conflict, international humanitarian law and human rights law are violated every day in Ukraine. Innocent civilians are tortured, killed, or obliged to leave their city or country to avoid the worst atrocities, while civilian buildings and infrastructure are destroyed. This article examines the most relevant decisions adopted at the international level and identifies possible solutions to prosecute and punish international crimes perpetrated in Ukraine. International (criminal) law and cooperation between states and international organizations will play a crucial role in the fight against impunity for those responsible for the worst atrocities against the Ukrainian population.