UKRAINE TAKES CASE AGAINST RUSSIA TO UNITED NATIONS’ HIGHEST COURT

THE HAGUE Ukraine has filed a case against Russia at the United Nations’ highest court, accusing Moscow of illegally annexing Crimea and illicitly funding separatist rebel groups in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv also is seeking compensation for deadly incidents including the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

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.”

Kyiv further alleged that Moscow’s takeover of Crimea “brazenly defied the UN Charter, seizing a part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory by military force.” No date was immediately announced for hearings in the case.

Fighting between Ukrainian government troops and Russia- backed separatists has killed more than 9,600 people in eastern Ukraine since it began in 2014. Both Ukraine and the separatists are party to a truce under which both should cease fire and stop advancing.

Russia has been in control of Crimea since it annexed the Crimean peninsula in March 2014 after a hastily called referendum.

From the time the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine began in April 2014, the Ukrainian government referred to Russian interference as terrorism.