UN: Russian energy attacks on Ukraine are war crimes — SkimNews
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- Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded in a Monday report to the UN General Assembly that Russian authorities’ repeated attacks on heating plants, power lines, gas facilities and other infrastructure since autumn 2022 constitute war crimes involving intentional attacks on civilian objects.
- Russia conducted systematic waves of attacks with hundreds of drones and missiles at a time, which increased in frequency, intensity and geographic range over the years and significantly damaged Ukraine’s energy sector.
- Russian attacks during the severe 2025–2026 winter, when temperatures fell to minus 21°C, left millions of people in Ukraine facing lengthy outages of heating, electricity, water and gas.
- Russian authorities made official declarations concerning further attacks and referred to a plan to carry them out; the commission also found that commanders ordering strikes knew heating facilities were indispensable to civilians.
- Erik Mose, chair of the commission, said attacks had intensified again with the cold season approaching, raising serious concerns about threats to civilians’ lives and health.
- Zaporizhzhia was hit by a Russian strike overnight Monday, injuring four people, according to regional governor Mykhailo Semikin.
Why it matters: The finding matters for millions of Ukrainian civilians who faced lengthy outages of heating, electricity, water and gas during the severe 2025–2026 winter, with temperatures reaching minus 21°C. By classifying the campaign as intentional attacks on indispensable civilian objects, the commission places the resulting suffering within the legal category of war crimes rather than ordinary wartime disruption.
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