[1] In April 2022, Finkel claimed that after the initial phase of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was resisted by Ukrainian armed forces, the aims of the invasion evolved, and the combined evidence of widespread war crimes, including the Bucha massacre, together with genocidal intent, as illustrated by the essay What Russia should do with Ukraine published in RIA Novosti, established that genocide was taking place.
[1] In comments on the Syrian civil war in April 2018, Finkel stated that even though Israel was opposed to the government of Bashar al-Assad, which was supported by Russia, Israel and Russia had common interests in opposition to Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and al-Qaeda, and in preventing the war from extending beyond the borders of Syria.
In the case of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he stated that the massacres demonstrated "a campaign intended to destroy Ukrainians as a national group, if not in whole, then certainly 'in part'".
He argued that evidence of a switch to genocidal intent was "abundant", and that the 3 April essay, What Russia should do with Ukraine published by RIA Novosti was one of the best examples, similar to earlier statements by Russian president Vladimir Putin, and "outlin[ing] a clear plan to destroy Ukrainians and Ukraine itself".
[3] Genocide scholar Raz Segal and law scholar Luigi Daniele argue that "applying the same standard indicated by Finkel" would lead to the conclusion that Israel was already carrying out genocide against Palestinians before the Israel–Hamas war in 2023, because "Israeli journalists and top policy makers denied Palestinians' existence, their right to a state, and collective civilian protection".