The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on July 9 found that Russia has committed grave violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) in Ukraine. Judges at the ECHR rendered a series of decisions related to consolidated complaints brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands since the Ukraine conflict began in 2014. Among the named violations of IHL are the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), multiple violations of the Geneva Conventions and other human rights treaties, application of "extremism laws" against religious communities, and interference with freedom of speech and the press.

Europe's top human rights official on July 4 raised concerns that Serbian authorities are using violence and arbitrary arrests to break up protests against President Aleksandar Vučić's populist government. The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty especially decried "the arrest of children, as well as the number of students being charged for criminal offenses or hospitalized for the treatment of injuries."

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on July 5 strongly condemned Russia's largest yet wave of drone and missile attacks in Ukraine, especially noting strikes that disrupted the power supply to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), endangering nuclear safety. A statement issued by Guterres' office said:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset on June 25 agreed to establish a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. The agreement, supported by all 46 Council of Europe member states, will establish a tribunal to address crimes of aggression in response to Russia's ongoing invasion. The crime of aggression refers to the decision by a state leader to wage a war that may violate Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. The tribunal's jurisdiction may also extend to Russian allies participating in the conflict.

In a June 1 covert operation dubbed "Spiderweb," the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) destroyed or damaged 41 Russian warplanes at four air-bases across the Russian Federation—Belaya (Irkutsk oblast, Siberia), Olenya (Murmansk oblast, in the Arctic), Dyagilevo (Ryazan oblast, near Moscow) and Ivanovo (in the eponymous oblast, also near Moscow). Kyiv claims it has disabled 34% of Russia's strategic bomber fleet in the operation, carried out with over 100 drones launched from trucks hidden across Russian territory. While the Kremlin's top officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have not commented on the Ukrainian operation at all, Russian pro-war propagandists are calling it "Russia's Pearl Harbor," and demanding vengeance. Prominent state TV personality Vladimir Solovyov said on his program that the Ukrainian operation is "grounds for a nuclear attack," and called for retaliatory strikes on the Ukrainian president's office in Kyiv and airfields in NATO members Poland and Romania allegedly used by Ukrainian aircraft. (Kyiv Independent)

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine published a report May 28 declaring Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians in Kherson oblast to be war crimes and crimes against humanity. The commission found that roughly 150 Ukrainian civilians have been killed over the past year as a result of the systematic Russian drone attacks:

Russian media outlets reported May 25 that police in Yekaterinburg stormed an event hosted by the pro-democratic opposition party Yabloko (Apple), aimed at supporting political prisoners. The authorities reportedly detained 10 attendees, who have been subsequently released, with legal action against them by the prosecutor's office now pending.

A Russian military court in Yekaterinburg on May 20 sentenced 27-year-old anarchist Alexey Rozhkov to 16 years in prison for what prosecutors classified as a "terrorist act"—throwing Molotov cocktails at a military recruitment office in March 2022, causing minor damage. The incident, which occurred shortly after the start Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was one of the earliest in a brief string of such actions across Russia in protest against the war.