PISKY, Ukraine – Despite the loss of thousands of lives and 7 percent of the territory, what is happening in Ukraine is still not commonly or officially referred to as a war, either at home or abroad.
It’s long overdue to change that, says Ukrainian volunteer soldier Oleksa from Dnipro-1 Battalion, who is currently located in Donetsk Oblast’s Pisky. He did not provide his last name because he is not authorized to talk to the media.
Like many of his fellow fighters, Oleksa wants the nation to drop the phrase “anti-terrorist operation” and use the actual name for what is happening in the east. “We want at least media to move from calling it ATO to calling it war, if authorities can’t do that,” he says.
In fact, by most common international definitions of war, it’s exactly what’s going on.
“The situation in Ukraine has been labeled a crisis, aggression and an assault. Few have put it as it is – war,” writes analyst Carina Lamont from Swedish Defence Research Agency FOI in her research, based on the Geneva Conventions of 1949. “The ambiguity in terminology has caused uncertainty as to how to define a situation such as that in Ukraine. If that is not war, what is?”
According to scientists David Singer and Mel Small, developers of “Correlates of War” (COW) project that captures worldwide data on wars, conflict becomes a war after 1,000 battle-related deaths.
The latest official numbers, released by President Petro Poroshenko on March 9, show that at least 1,549 soldiers have been killed on the Ukrainian side in the war with Russian-backed militants. According to the Kyiv Post count, at least 1,638 soldiers were killed as of March 6.
Armen Harutyunyan, regional representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Central Asia, said in a briefing earlier this month that the UN documented the deaths of 5,809 people in eastern Ukraine.
Although Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk refer to the events in the east as “war” in public speeches, all official data in Ukraine is still presented as coming “from ATO zone”.
“It is war what is happening in the east,” says Colonel Ivan Yakubets. “What do you call a woman? You can call her a person or a human, but she remains a woman. Same with war.”
Yakubets also says that the government should introduce martial law in the east. Martial law in Ukraine is regulated by the Law on Defense of Ukraine, which states that armed aggression or threat of aggression, danger to the state independence of Ukraine and its territorial integrity qualify as reasons for introduction of martial law.
“Having a rule of law state means we must follow the laws, otherwise what do we need them for?” asks Yakubets.
Poroshenko said in mid-February that he would proclaim martial law “if the irresponsible actions of aggressor lead to a further serious escalation”. It has not happened, however, despite regular violations of cease-fire and the takeover of strategic railway junction Debaltseve by pro-Russian troops at the end of last month.
But instead of martial law, the president announced creation of a softer hybrid form of rule, called civil-military administrations, in some areas in the eastern provinces.
