What Is or Isn’t a Genocide? Does Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Qualify?

There are few more powerful words in international relations than genocide. But what exactly it means, when it should be invoked and what should happen when it is, is often unclear. It’s an issue brought to the fore by recent remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy calling Russia’s invasion of his country a genocide, a statement later echoed by U.S. President Joe Biden. Former President Donald Trump, who in February praised Putin’s escalation in Ukraine as “genius,” joined Biden in calling Russia’s war in Ukraine a genocide.

In the United Nations Genocide Convention, written in 1948, it’s defined both in terms of specific acts and on whether they are intended “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” The listed acts are killing or inflicting serious mental or bodily harm on members of the group, subjecting them to conditions meant to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures to prevent births or forcibly removing children. Victims of genocide are targeted not for individual reasons but for their membership in one of the four specified groups. The definition excludes persecution for political beliefs. Acts committed against a portion of the group can count if it represents a “substantial” share.