What happens if a country commits a war crime?

With the conflict between Russia and Ukraine carrying on, the eyes of the world are fixed on invading troops to ensure no war crimes are committed.

Russia's invasion has essentially broken nearly 100 years of international norms in Europe to not pursue territorial conquest, but does it inflict upon international law?

While it used to be common to see invasions during the 20th century and before, World War II changed a lot of norms and behaviours of countries in Europe which deterred neighbouring countries from carrying out invasions.

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Certain conducts of behaviour during conflicts were solidified following the conclusion of World War II in the 1949 Geneva Conventions which was signed by all members of the United Nations - of which Russia is a permanent member.

In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor said he plans to open an investigation “as rapidly as possible” into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine - both alleged crimes committed before the Russian invasion, but also any new crimes that either side might have committed since the invasion started.

Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said there is “indisputable evidence” of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including "the brutalising of a number of Ukrainian cities" and "the deliberate targeting of civilians".

But what counts as a war crime, and what happens if one is committed?

The UN classifies any 'grave breaches' of the Geneva Conventions as a war crime and it lists out in detail a set of war crimes that are related to this, these are:

While these are the war crimes listed in the Geneva Conventions, there are many more listed that apply to different