Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

[Zkuq]

Nuvendil said:

Zkuq said:

Last I heard, military personnel had to be identifiable as military personnel instead of civilians. I don't know the exact rule that's based on, but assuming I've heard correctly, I would assume it applies to equipment (including vehicles) as well.

It is a war crime, specifically perfidy.  In war, it is illegal to:

Pretend to be dead to ambush the enemy

Pretend to be wounded to ambush an enemy

Pretend to surrender 

Pretend to accept a surrender

Pretend to negotiate a truce or alliance to gain a military advantage/allow for a surprise attack

Disguise military personnel or equipment as civilian

And a few other things.  Basically, the kinds of deception that will increase civilian collateral damage and erode the necessary trusted frameworks that allow forces to surrender and good faith negotiations to take place.

OK, thanks for the clarification! All this makes a lot of sense to me, although the pretending to negotiation a truce/alliance part still surprises me somewhat.