UN commission finds Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy sites were war crimes
Investigators said Russian commanders knowingly targeted heating facilities civilians depended on, after years of attacks that left millions facing winter outages.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said on 26 October that Russian commanders committed war crimes by intentionally attacking civilian energy infrastructure across Ukraine. Its finding matters as another cold season approaches: the commission said attacks had intensified again, after earlier strikes deprived millions of essential services during severe winter weather.
In a report submitted to the UN General Assembly, the commission examined attacks on heating plants, power lines, gas facilities and other infrastructure since autumn 2022. It concluded that commanders knew the heating facilities they targeted were indispensable to civilians. The commission also said Russian authorities had publicly referred to further attacks and a plan to carry them out.
How energy attacks affected Ukrainian civilians
The investigators said the frequency, intensity and geographic reach of the attacks had grown over the years, significantly damaging Ukraine’s energy sector. Reuters reported that the commission described waves involving hundreds of drones and missiles at a time. Its latest report focused especially on the winter of 2025–2026, when temperatures fell to minus 21 degrees Celsius and millions faced lengthy interruptions to heating, electricity, water and gas.
The commission drew on accounts from 255 people who endured winter conditions in nine Ukrainian regions, alongside information from Ukrainian authorities, doctors and nongovernmental organisations. It described older residents unable to reach shelter during air raid alerts because they could not use stairs or feared lifts, leaving them in homes without heat, water or access to essential services.
A 74-year-old woman from Kyiv told the commission she lay cold and hungry, without medicine. A 53-year-old man described the fear of falling asleep and dying from cold as ‘like torture’. Their accounts illustrate the civilian harm the investigators considered in reaching their conclusions.
What the commission could assess
The investigators also examined Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure in Russia and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. They said they could not assess the impact of strikes inside Russia because Russian authorities did not grant access or respond to requests for information. The commission’s findings on Russian attacks remain its conclusions; the reports did not include a Russian response to them.
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Sources and context
- Ukraine: Investigators find Russia committed war crimes by targeting civiliansUN News
- Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure a war crime: UNReuters, republished by Al Jazeera
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.