Students and Faculty Consider Lawful Peace in Ukraine after Four Years of War

Yale Law School faculty and students marked the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war this week with commentaries and a panel discussion.

Sterling Professor of International Law Harold Hongju Koh and student members of the Peter Gruber Rule of Law Clinic at Yale Law School published a two-part series in Just Security timed to the anniversary, titled “Toward a Just and Lawful Peace in Ukraine.” The series looked back at the progress made thus far under international law and urged the use of frozen Russian central bank assets to finance Ukrainian reconstruction.

Read Part I and Part II at Just Security

Part 1, “Toward a Just and Lawful Peace in Ukraine: What Law Has Achieved,” surveys the substantial legal architecture erected over the past four years: ICJ and ICC litigation, criminal prosecutions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior Russian commanders, and a new Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression. 

Against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s push for a narrow, limited peace in Ukraine, Part I argues that the injection of rule-of-law principles into the ongoing peace negotiations can build a “durable peace with substantive elements designed to ensure Ukraine’s long-term political, military, and economic future.” 

Part II — “Making Russia Pay for Ukrainian Reconstruction” — identifies the most critical remaining piece of that international legal architecture — directing the roughly €185 billion in frozen Russian assets held in Europe toward Ukrainian compensation and reconstruction. The authors argue that European hesitation to do so — driven by fears of legal risk — has been unwarranted, and they write that no real legal barriers exist to using frozen Russian assets for Ukrainian reconstruction.

“Our interest in writing the piece really came from a sense of frustration with what we viewed as a misguided fear of the legal risks of using Russia’s frozen assets to support Ukraine — especially against the backdrop of Russia’s flagrant violations of international law and ongoing aggression against Ukraine,” said Julian Watrous ’27, a student in the clinic and co-author of the piece. 

Kate Davidson ’27, another clinic student and co-author, said that the law can provide a scaffolding to ensure that a negotiated peace is just and sustainable.

“We highlight the roles that law has played as part of the multifaceted strategy to support Ukraine, and going forward, why frozen Russian assets in Europe can and should be used to fulfill Ukraine’s critical funding needs resulting from Russia’s invasion,” she said. 

Along with Koh, the series was co-authored by clinic students Madeline Babin ’26, Kate Davidson ’27, Saavni Desai ’27, Samantha Kiernan ’26 and Julian Watrous ’27.

In addition to the commentaries, Koh and Oona Hathaway ’97, the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law, participated in a panel on the war on Feb. 24. The American Society for International Law (ASIL) marked the anniversary with a virtual panel of experts who examined Ukraine’s strategic employment of “legal mechanisms to shape and advance its political, military, and diplomatic response to Russian aggression,” according to ASIL. 

Watch the panel on YouTube