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civilian criminalization of combatant commander decisions and its impact on Ukraine’s security & Western support
On December 11, 2020, a civil appellate court reviewed the trial and upheld the conviction of retired Major General Viktor Nazarov who, as acting Chief of Operations of the “anti-terrorist” effort in the Donbas, was accused of negligence in connection with the shoot-down by Russian-led forces of a Ukrainian Il-76 transport plane on June 17, 2014, with the loss of 9 flight crew and 40 paratroopers.
In the immediate aftermath, two responses — conducted simultaneously and separately of each other — registered major concern over the implications this decision has for Ukrainian security. On December 19, 2020, over one-hundred Ukrainian senior officers and proven battlefield commanders put their signatures and careers on the line in issuing an “Open Statement” to the leadership of the country, warning that the civilian prosecution and incarceration of General Nazarov is a “Threat to the National Security of Ukraine.”