Legal status of persons affected by the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (constitutional and legal aspect)

Abstract

Ukraine as a social, legal state forms the national external and internal policy on the basis of guaranteeing and unconditional provision of rights and freedoms of man and citizen, proclaimed by the Constitution of Ukraine. At the same time, certain categories of citizens today need special state support because of the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. This issue has heightened social and legal significance because the number of persons who lost their property, became the victims of physical and psychological torture, sexual violence in the result of war crimes committed by the Russian military has much increased compared to 2014-2021. Many children are among the injured and dead. The question of proper provision and protection of the constitutional rights and freedoms of aggrieved persons is a priority issue of the constitutional and legal policy of Ukraine today. However, the granting a necessary support by the state requires the formal assignment of the appropriate legal status to each category of persons. The urgency of resolving these questions under the state of martial law actualizes the issue of proper defining the characteristics of legal status of each category of Ukrainian citizens affected by the military (armed) aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. In the article there investigated various theoretical approaches to determining the legal status of an internally displaced person. The ratio of the categories “internally displaced person”, “migrant” and “refugee” is analyzed by studying the provisions of Ukrainian and foreign constitutional legislation as well as international legal documents. There determined the defects of the constitutional legislation of Ukraine in matters of legal regulation of the legal status of citizens of Ukraine, including children, and foreigners, who suffered in a result of military (armed) aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, due to the inconsistency of the constitutional and legal policy of Ukraine. It is concluded that the current constitutional and legal policy of Ukraine should be formed more considerably and according to national interests, not only under the impact of international experts’ recommendations, timely take into account new legal facts, that will permit to avoid lacunae and collisions in national legislation in future. Key words: constitutional and legal policy, legal status, internally displaced person, deportation, military aggression