"The Russian Federation must, pending the final decision in the case, suspend the military operations that it commenced on 24 February 2022 in the territory of Ukraine," Judge Joan E. Donoghue said while reading out the order.
The court in The Hague also ordered that Russia "ensure that any military or irregular armed units which may be directed or supported by it, as well as any organizations and persons which may be subject to its control and direction, take no steps in furtherance of these military operations."
The vote on those two measures was 13-2, with ICJ Vice President Kirill Gevorgian and Judge Xue Hanqin dissenting. Gevorgian and Xue are former ambassadors to the Netherlands from Russia and China, respectively.
The ICJ panel also unanimously ordered both Russia and Ukraine to "refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the court or make it more difficult to resolve."
Elsewhere in the ruling, the panel said it is "is profoundly concerned about the use of force by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, which raises very serious issues of international law."
Russia has not participated in the proceeding, claiming that the court lacks jurisdiction. The court on Wednesday rejected those objections, saying that Ukraine had established an initial case that the dispute fell within its jurisdiction.
Ukraine alleges in the proceeding that Russian President Vladimir Putin violated a decades-old anti-genocide treaty when he attempted to justify the attack, launched in the early hours of Feb. 24, based on an "absurd lie" that genocide had been committed in the country's Donbas region.
Ukraine initiated the case just days after the invasion, and a hearing was held this month. Russia argued in a brief on March 7 that the court lacks jurisdiction since the treaty does not regulate either the use of force between countries or the recognition of foreign states.
Kyiv accuses Moscow of violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, also known as the Genocide Convention.
Counsel for Ukraine praised the decision.
"The Russian invasion of Ukraine under the false pretext of preventing and punishing genocide is a threat not just to Ukraine but to the international legal order as we know it," said Covington & Burling LLP partner Marney L. Cheek. "We are proud to work alongside Ukraine and to be part of the international legal response to Russia's unlawful aggression."
Moving ahead, Ukraine will seek "full damages for the harm Russia has caused," Covington partner David Zionts said.
It's unclear if Wednesday's ruling will have any effect in practice. Although the ruling is binding under international law, the court does not have a meaningful way to enforce it.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared hopeful, writing on Twitter that "Russia must comply immediately. Ignoring the order will isolate Russia even further."
This is not the first time Ukraine has invoked international law against the Kremlin. Following Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula, Kyiv and several Ukrainian investors launched a series of proceedings seeking compensation for resources that were taken without compensation.
The tribunals have awarded substantial damages against Russia in several of the cases.
Ukraine is represented by Marney Cheek, Jonathan Gimblett, David Zionts, Clovis Trevino, Vlad Shkilevych, Jill Warnock and Paul Strauch of Covington & Burling LLP, Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School, Jean-Marc Thouvenin of Paris-Nanterre University and its own Anton Korynevych and Oksana Zolotaryova.
The case is Ukraine v. Russian Federation in the International Court of Justice.
--Editing by Brian Baresch.
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