Ukraine allies back Kyiv's genocide challenge against Russia at World Court

FILE PHOTO: Ambassador-at-Large of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anton Korynevych, Director General for International Law of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oksana Zolotaryova and Russian Ambassador to Netherlands, Alexander Vasilievich Shulgin, Russia's Ambassador-at-Large Gennady Kuzmin, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. Maria Zabolotskaya attend a hearing as Russia begins presenting its objections against the jurisdiction of the World Court in a genocide case brought by Ukraine which claims Moscow falsely applied genocide law to justify its February 24, 2022 invasion, in The Hague, Netherlands, September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -More than two dozen European states, as well as Australia and Canada, on Wednesday asked the World Court to determine that it has jurisdiction in a case brought by Kyiv alleging that Russia abused the Genocide Convention to provide a pretext for the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine brought the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest U.N. court for disputes between states, days after Russia launched a full-scale war on its smaller neighbour on Feb. 24 last year.