The Legal Aspects of Protection of Civil Objects and Objects of Critical Infrastructure Under the Conditions of an Armed Conflict

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the normative-legal governing of protection of civil objects and objects of critical infrastructureunder the conditions of an armed conflict, that unconditionally is the key aspect to developing the national system of firmnessand sustainability and of course the survival of the state under the conditions of hybrid threats.It has been determined that the prohibitions that are set by the norms of international humanitarian law on the impossibility toinflict damage on civil objects or objects of critical infrastructure are often violated under the conditions of armed conflict andhybrid attacks, and therefore only prohibitions will turn out to be insufficient to achieve the state of protection for a society fromuncontrolled challenges and threats.It has also been pointed out, that there’s a critical growth of the level of threats not only to the economic, but also to theecological security of Ukraine. The absence of clear assessment of the scale of demolition, the duration of the situation and thecontinuity of the physical demolition of the infrastructure and civil objects on a significant part of the territory of the Donetsk andLuhansk regions do not allow to carry out precise assessment of losses and expenditures for Ukraine. The losses inflicted andcaused by the armed conflict in the Donbass are currently being assessed by Ukraine, UN, USAID and independent experts in adifferent manner.It has been pointed out that in the course of the Antiterrorist operation and the Operation of the United Forces in the east ofUkraine, as an addition to the most frightening phenomenon – the death of people, there’re also thousands of objects ofinfrastructure damaged and destroyed including housing. Thousands of families are left homeless, or with their houses damagedto such an extent that there’s no possibility to live there in a save and regular manner. Additionally, there’re plenty of civil objectsand objects of infrastructure that have been destroyed, the networks of water, heat, gas and electricity supply, as well as objectsthat assure the flow of used water and sewage, roads objects of social and cultural purpose, such as schools, kindergartens,healthcare entities, cultural and historical monuments etc.It has been proven, that the classification of objects of critical infrastructure is to be done with the inclusion of the followingcriteria such as: their importance to carry out the vital functions; the existing threats they could be damaged by; the duration ofactivities for their reconstruction and restoring with additional stress made on the issues of establishing a legislative basis torestore and rebuilt the civil objects and objects of critical infrastructure that have been damaged as a consequence of the armedconflict.