The International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced on Tuesday that it would start the first hearing of a trial against Russia over its war with Ukraine on March 7.

The top UN court will launch the two-day public hearings in the case filed by Ukraine alleging that Moscow violated the 1948 Genocide Convention, said an ICJ statement.

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court.

Due to coronavirus, the hearing will be held in a hybrid format, it added.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Kyiv's application to the ICJ for Moscow to "be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression."

"We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week," Zelenskyy said on Twitter.

In a later statement, the court confirmed Ukraine's application proceedings against Russia, requesting it indicate "provisional measures."

It added that Ukraine's application was related to the "interpretation, application and fulfillment of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide."

In the application, Ukraine accused Russia of "planning acts of genocide in Ukraine" and "intentionally killing and inflicting serious injury on members of the Ukrainian nationality."

Since Russian began its war on Ukraine last Thursday, it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK, Canada, Japan, and the US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Moscow.

At least 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed and 400 others, including 26 children, injured in Ukraine, according to UN figures.

Around 660,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the international body said Tuesday./aa