[Goose]

Russia chose a war of aggression.  I do not understand any argument that it is completely legal to shoot at "enemy" ships, so long as you first declare a war of aggression against the country whose flag is on the ship.

It is even broader than that. If you have declared a "blockade" you can even legally sink ships that are "neutral" and flying a neutral flag but are operating inside the territorial waters of "the enemy". Minefields obviously can't "see" the flag anyway.

Unfortunately the Laws of armed Conflict cannot be based on who is "morally right". History has shown that even the most egregious forms of aggression have a "story" and some "neutral" nations will support the story, often with tongue firmly in cheek. This is especially true if they can make money doing so. There are many other wars where there were "legitimate" arguments on each side of the issue. The "laws" would therefore be useless if they first require determining who is "in the right" about the conflict itself. In most cases these laws are not "enforceable". Non-belligerents just don't want to risk getting involved by using "kinetic" persuasion. Many times however nations have followed the rules of war  because of the opprobrium and non-kinetic sanctions associated with not doing so were considered an unacceptably high price. The alternative is no "rules" at all. Society has decided that having some rules is "better" than none.

As to not sinking the ship, that could be intentional.  Russia is not responsible for the complete destruction of a commercial vessel or the loss of any life.  It fired a "warning" shot that now puts everyone on notice that they had better not be involved with commercial shipping of goods from Ukraine.

Agree. Russia would prefer the grain trade to stop without them having to dedicate resources to it and/or being condemned for their actions. Obviously when you fire a missile at a ship you can't be absolutely certain nobody will be killed and that the ship will not sink. That said, Russia did use a "minimalist" approach.

[Goose]

Russia chose a war of aggression.  I do not understand any argument that it is completely legal to shoot at "enemy" ships, so long as you first declare a war of aggression against the country whose flag is on the ship.

It is even broader than that. If you have declared a "blockade" you can even legally sink ships that are "neutral" and flying a neutral flag but are operating inside the territorial waters of "the enemy". Minefields obviously can't "see" the flag anyway.

Unfortunately the Laws of armed Conflict cannot be based on who is "morally right". History has shown that even the most egregious forms of aggression have a "story" and some "neutral" nations will support the story, often with tongue firmly in cheek. This is especially true if they can make money doing so. There are many other wars where there were "legitimate" arguments on each side of the issue. The "laws" would therefore be useless if they first require determining who is "in the right" about the conflict itself. In most cases these laws are not "enforceable". Non-belligerents just don't want to risk getting involved by using "kinetic" persuasion. Many times however nations have followed the rules of war  because of the opprobrium and non-kinetic sanctions associated with not doing so were considered an unacceptably high price. The alternative is no "rules" at all. Society has decided that having some rules is "better" than none.

As to not sinking the ship, that could be intentional.  Russia is not responsible for the complete destruction of a commercial vessel or the loss of any life.  It fired a "warning" shot that now puts everyone on notice that they had better not be involved with commercial shipping of goods from Ukraine.

Agree. Russia would prefer the grain trade to stop without them having to dedicate resources to it and/or being condemned for their actions. Obviously when you fire a missile at a ship you can't be absolutely certain nobody will be killed and that the ship will not sink. That said, Russia did use a "minimalist" approach.