Apocalypse Now: Destroyed Donbas will unlikely 'ever be built back to former glory in our lifetimes'

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Ukraine & Russia are facing off at the International Court of Justice (IC J) in The Hague in a case brought by Kyiv branding Russia a "terrorist state" and accusing Moscow of a decade-long campaign to wipe its smaller neighbour off the map. Ukraine said Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 was the "tragic but logical outcome" of Moscow's full-scale aggression that began in earnest in 2014. Ukraine's representative Anton Korynevych asserts that Russia has been engaging in a long-term campaign financing terrorism and carrying out genocide. "Beginning in 2014, Russia illegally occupied Crimea and then engaged in a campaign of cultural erasure, taking aim at ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars," he said. "In Donbas, in Kharkiv... we've endured a Russian-fuelled campaign of intimidation and terror." He added: "The lesson this case teaches is simple: the past is prologue. If the world doesn't stand up to serious violations of international law, the violators are emboldened." For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, the widespread destruction and devastation, and Kyiv's ongoing counteroffensive, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen is joined by Peter Zalmayev, Director of the Eurasian Democracy Initiative.