- Armed civilians without giving them a uniform. Breach of Geneva Conventions
- Ukrainian special forces command said Russian artillerymen will no longer be taken prisoner and will “all be killed for being complicit in criminal orders”. Killing surrendering soldiers is a war crime. Collective punishment is also one. Edit: they have since taken that statement back. I have not.
- Did not activate air raid sirens to warn civilian populations of artillery and air strikes. People have already died because of this; Russia gave warnings as per protocol which Ukraine did not relay in time.
- As per the discovery of biological labs near the border with Russia, there is a very serious possibility Zelensky is guilty of producing biological weapons. The labs have been confirmed by the US gov, but no proof yet that they were meant for biological warfare.
- Forcing battles to happen in civilian zones, thus exposing them to danger and preventing their protection.
- Possibility of using child soldiers, as the Ukrainian army is now training children to use AKs, during wartime.
- Ukrainian forces were (accidentally) caught using Red Cross vans to transport soldiers and materiel. The symbol of the cross itself can only be used by the organisation and is protected under the Geneva Conventions; it can only be used by medical units who must then be treated like civilians.
Feel free to contribute. (the list above only reflects crimes Zelensky himself can be responsible for, to the best of our knowledge based on information that comes out of Ukraine. This list is also not legal advice, as only a trial will be able to determine which crimes have been committed and who is responsible for them).
One of the major defining factors is whether they are held to the standards of military law within that country. For example the French Foreign Legion is part of the army and subject to French Military Court Martial. Whereas Triple Canopy in the US is a PMC(mercenary) due to the inability to Court Martial their “soldiers” for crimes in theater. They are only liable in the civilian courts which effectively means they are liable to no one.
You can read the UN text here: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1989/12/19891204 08-54 AM/Ch_XVIII_6p.pdf (english version starts on page 19), there’s a whole bunch of conditions (that must all be met as I understand it), but the one that comes back the most is essentially about money.
Money and 3rd party status to the conflict. The US gets away with calling PMC’s military contractors because the fighters are from one of the nations involved in the conflict. But a Congolese fighter in Afghanistan would be a mercenary due to 3rd party status. This is assuming that they were also being paid more than rank-and-file soldiers.
But let’s be real. The US is party to every conflict and can claim “War on terror” to send mercenaries to anywhere in the global south without consequences. Along with the geo-political reality that the US has giant double standards.
I am very interested in where these foreign fighters in Ukraine are getting paid though. They are “volunteers” on paper. But there are go fund me style fundraisers to help equip them and support them. I would bet my last dollar that our friends at the CIA are donating funds and equipment. Some of these fighters are much better equipped than the Ukrainian or Russians. I know they can bring some gear from the US. But they have weapons and explosives that they definitely didn’t bring and Ukraine doesn’t field. The real surprise is they have communication gear and night vision that is either not available to civilians or ridiculously expensive. I saw one guy with USARMY comms gear and night vision that is $50,000 to $70,000 per unit. That’s not a volunteer. That’s a spook from an agency that doesn’t exist. If I can dig up the picture I will link it below.
Yeah, that’s a very important question. There’s also NGOs now that help them get to Ukraine (not necessarily in fighting roles though, they’re also connecting volunteers for civilian and refugee support).