The article discusses the basic criminal law problems of protecting human right to life in Ukraine. The notion of the murder of a person in accordance with the current Criminal Code of Ukraine and the doctrine of criminal law was discussed. Characteristics of the basic composition of murder of a human, qualified components of the murder of a person, components of human murders in mitigating circumstances were characterized. Attention was paid to punishing human killings under the current Criminal Code of Ukraine. The paper presents the doctrine of Ukrainian criminal law based on the proposals of scientists to improve the criminal law protection of human right to life in Ukraine.