Yip: Nuclear Deterrence in the War on Ukraine – A Legal Appraisal

Ka Lok Yip (Hamad Bin Khalifa Univ.) has posted Nuclear Deterrence in the War on Ukraine – A Legal Appraisal (Journal of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Russia’s full-scaled armed attack on Ukraine beginning on 24 February 2022 is simultaneously a practical attack on the international law prohibiting the inter-state use of force. The deepening inhumanity of the ongoing aggression is partly attributable to the constraints on Ukraine and third states to fully exercise their individual and collective right of self-defence to repel Russian forces for fear of Russia’s use of nuclear force against Ukraine or other intervening states that could spark an annihilating nuclear exchange. On the other hand, the Russian President’s address on 24 February 2022 made numerous accusations about the geographical expansion of the nuclear-armed NATO alliance together with its nuclear military infrastructure. This article examines the legality of both Russia’s and NATO states’ nuclear deterrence postures in verbal, physical and political forms in the context of the war on Ukraine through the lens of the prohibition against the threat of force in international relations and reflects on the important goal furthered by this prohibition: to practice tolerance and live together in peace.