CRIMINAL OFFENCE DURING MARTIAL LAW IN UKRAINE: PECULIARITIES OF QUALIFICATION

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Published: 2025-10-07
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46281/bjmsr.v11i1.2658
Keywords:
Criminal Law, Martial Law, Case, Sabotage, Treason

Main Article Content

Olena Sasko
Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, Faculty of Law, Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Lutsk, Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3919-2233
Hanna Shvedova
Associate Professor, Department of Legal Support of Business Security, Faculty of International Trade and Law, State University of Trade and Economics, Kyiv, Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0652-8493
Kostiantyn Orobets
Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Law Policy, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8783-3950
Ruslan Ovcharenko
Professor, Department of Public Administration, Educational and Scientific Institute of Management, Economics and Business, Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, Kyiv, Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4540-0521
Oleksandr Ostapenko
Associate Professor, Department of Public Law Disciplines, Faculty of Law, Public Administration and Management, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1158-0146

Abstract

The introduction of martial law in Ukraine has fundamentally altered the conditions of criminal proceedings, exposing the urgent need to adapt national legislation to wartime realities. The rapid escalation of armed conflict has created legal challenges related to the qualification of criminal offenses, particularly those classified as war crimes, and raised concerns regarding compliance with international standards. The purpose of this study is to examine how martial law affects the qualification of criminal offenses and to identify the main problems in applying the relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. The analysis is based on national legal acts, amendments adopted after February 2022, and judicial practice concerning crimes against national security and war crimes. The study employs the PRISMA methodology for systematic literature selection and integrates analytical, synthetic, comparative, and thematic approaches to ensure comprehensive coverage of the subject. The results reveal a marked increase in crimes against national security, peace, and human rights during the period of martial law, with the official statistics indicating a growth of over 40% in registered offenses of this category compared to the pre-war period. Judicial practice consistently demonstrates persistent difficulties in applying provisions related to war crimes, including inconsistent interpretations of legal norms and delays in adjudication. The findings also highlight gaps in adapting criminal legislation to wartime conditions. In conclusion, the study offers a systematic examination of the characteristics of criminal qualification under martial law, confirming both quantitative increases in wartime offenses and significant legal inconsistencies that warrant further scholarly attention.


JEL Classification Codes: K14, K33, K38.

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Article Details

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2026): Bangladesh Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research

Section

Research Paper/Theoretical Paper/Review Paper/Short Communication Paper
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biographies

Olena Sasko , Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, Faculty of Law, Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Lutsk, Ukraine

Sasko Olena is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement at Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University. She defended her dissertation at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in 2007. She is the author of over 100 articles in Ukrainian scientific journals, as well as the author or co-author of several monographs and textbooks. She has participated in numerous international and national conferences. Her teaching portfolio includes Criminal Law, Theoretical and Applied Problems of Criminal Justice, and Criminal Law Classification of Criminal Offenses. Her research interests include criminal law and the classification of criminal offenses.

Hanna Shvedova , Associate Professor, Department of Legal Support of Business Security, Faculty of International Trade and Law, State University of Trade and Economics, Kyiv, Ukraine

Hanna Shvedova is an Associate Professor at the Department of Legal Support of Business Security at the State University of Trade and Economics, Kyiv, Ukraine. She holds a Ph.D. (Candidate of Sciences in Law), which she obtained from the V.M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Shvedova has extensive teaching and administrative experience. From 2014 to 2017, she headed the Department of Civil and Criminal Law and Procedure at the Black Sea National University by Petro Mohyla. Since 2017, she has been working at the State University of Trade and Economics. She is the author of nearly one hundred scientific publications in Ukrainian and English, including works indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, and Index Copernicus. Her publications address issues of criminal law, criminology, corruption prevention, and counteraction to official crime. She has participated in numerous national and international scientific conferences. Her teaching portfolio includes Criminal Law, Criminology, Criminal Procedure Law, Prevention of Corruption, and courses in Legal Law in English. Her academic interests encompass criminal law, criminology, corruption prevention, and legal education methodology. She is a member of the Association of Criminal Law of Ukraine and a practicing attorney.

Kostiantyn Orobets , Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Law Policy, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Kostiantyn Orobets, PhD in Law, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Criminal Law Policy in Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine. He is the author of a monograph devoted to the problems of criminal liability for illegal fishing, animal or other aquatic exploitation, chapters in international collective monographs, numerous scientific articles and abstracts of scientific reports, as well as co-author of the textbooks "Criminal Law of Ukraine (Special Part)" and "Fundamentals of Qualification of Criminal Offenses". His research interests include problems of axiology of criminal law, criminal law policy, national security, fight against corruption, environmental and military crimes.

Ruslan Ovcharenko , Professor, Department of Public Administration, Educational and Scientific Institute of Management, Economics and Business, Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, Kyiv, Ukraine

Ruslan Ovcharenko is a Professor at the Department of Public Administration of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Management, Economics and Business at the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP), Ukraine. He obtained a Candidate of Sciences degree in Public Administration in 2010 and the academic title of Associate Professor in 2013. He has achieved a Doctor of Sciences degree in Public Administration in 2016 (a dissertation on the topic "State Mechanism for Implementing the Principle of Social Justice"; specialty 25.00.02 – mechanisms of public administration). Ruslan Ovcharenko is a co-author of collective monographs on “The economic sovereignty of the state” and the author of an individual monograph on “Mechanisms of social justice”. He has also prepared many scientific articles. There are 40 articles in Ukrainian academic journals in the areas of public administration, social justice, economic regulation, and property. He has participated in numerous international and national scientific conferences and has also governed ad hoc specialised academic councils.

Oleksandr Ostapenko, Associate Professor, Department of Public Law Disciplines, Faculty of Law, Public Administration and Management, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine

Oleksandr Ostapenko is an Associate Professor at the Department of Public Law Disciplines at Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. He earned his Ph.D. in Law at the National Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, where his research focused on notarial secrecy in criminal proceedings. He is a co-author of a monograph and has published numerous scholarly articles in Ukraine and abroad. Ostapenko has taken part in various international and national academic conferences. His teaching and research interests include criminal law, criminalistics, military law, and the methodology of legal education.

How to Cite

Sasko , O. ., Shvedova , H. ., Orobets , K., Ovcharenko , R., & Ostapenko, O. . (2025). CRIMINAL OFFENCE DURING MARTIAL LAW IN UKRAINE: PECULIARITIES OF QUALIFICATION. Bangladesh Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research, 11(1), 13-22. https://doi.org/10.46281/bjmsr.v11i1.2658
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