The article is a legal review of the concepts concerning international law of armed conflicts. In the conditions of the war on the territory of Donbas, the necessity of well-balanced approaches of state authorities to implement the principles of current international humanitarian law into the legislation of Ukraine becomes of special urgency. The international legal content of the concepts of “international armed conflict”, “war”, “international military conflict”, is analyzed in the article. It is noted that the Law of Ukraine on Defense defines such a concept as a special period that becomes from the moment of announcement of the decision on mobilization or since the introduction of military state in Ukraine. According to the mentioned law, the military state is understood as a special legal regime introduced in Ukraine in case of armed aggression, the danger of Ukraine's state independence and its territorial integrity. During this period, the Criminal Code of Ukraine establishes responsibility for crimes committed as a rule during the war. These include sabotage, espionage, torture, criminal acts of a serviceman in captivity, and the ill-treatment of prisoners of war. The key concept of international humanitarian law is aggression. The Law of Ukraine on Defense clarifies the content of armed aggression as the use of another state or group of states armed forces against Ukraine. According to this law, armed aggression is considered to be any of the following: the invasion or attack of the armed forces of another state or group of states on the territory of Ukraine, the blockade of ports, the coast or airspace, and so on. The concept of “regime of military occupation” that is regulated by a number of international conventions is analyzed in the article. According to the legislation of Ukraine temporarily occupied territory is an integral part of the territory of Ukraine, which is subject to the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. The conclusions state that favorable conditions for the implementation of the norms of international humanitarian law are established in Ukraine. The norms of legislative acts of Ukraine concerning the law of armed conflicts meet international norms, and in some areas specify their content. The Criminal Code of Ukraine contains a list of crimes that are qualified according to international humanitarian law as crimes of an international character, although this list is, in our opinion, somewhat limited.

Key words: international armed conflict, wa,; international military conflict, special period, military state, military aggressio,; military occupation.

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