Top UN court says can rule on most of Ukraine invasion case

The United Nations' top court said Friday it had jurisdiction to rule in most parts of a case brought by Ukraine over Russia's brutal 2022 invasion, with Kyiv urging reparations.

Ukraine dragged Russia before the International Court of Justice only a few days after the invasion, seeking to battle its belligerent neighbour on all fronts, legal as well as diplomatic and military.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on February 24, 2022, part of his reasoning was that pro-Russian people in eastern Ukraine had been "subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime".

Ukraine filed a suit at the ICJ, "emphatically denying" this and arguing that Russia's use of "genocide" as a pretext for invasion went against the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.

In a preliminary ruling in March 2022, the ICJ sided with Ukraine and ordered Russia to halt its invasion immediately.

But Russia objected to this judgement, saying the ICJ, which decides on disputes between states, had no legal right to decide in this case.

The ICJ on Friday tossed out Moscow's argument, saying it did have jurisdiction to rule on this.

However, Ukraine had also said in its submission that Russia's use of force during the invasion was itself in contravention of the Genocide Convention.

The ICJ said it did not have competence to decide on this part of the case.