Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid likely violate humanitarian law, says UN By Reuters

By Max Hunder

KYIV (Reuters) – Russia’s campaign of airstrikes on Ukraine’s energy grid likely violates international humanitarian law, a U.N. monitoring body said on Thursday, as Ukrainians braced for the worst winter since the Russian invasion.

Over the course of its invasion, Russia fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Ukraine’s electricity generation, transmission and distribution facilities.

The first major wave of strikes hit in the fall and winter of 2022, months after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Strikes continued throughout the war, although Moscow greatly stepped up its campaign in March.

Each wave of strikes left Ukrainian cities without electricity for hours on end for weeks at a time.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) focused its report on nine waves of strikes between March and August 2024.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that several aspects of the military campaign to damage or destroy Ukraine’s civilian electricity and heat production and transport infrastructure violated fundamental principles of international humanitarian law,” the report said.

HRMMU said it visited seven power plants that were damaged or destroyed by the attacks, as well as 28 communities affected by the strikes.

Kiev says targeting its energy system is a war crime, and the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for four Russian military officials and officers for bombing civilian power infrastructure.

Moscow says energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and has dismissed the allegations against its officials as irrelevant.

risks

The HRMMU said the attacks pose risks to Ukraine’s water supply, sewage and sanitation, the provision of heating and hot water, public health, education and the wider economy.

It highlighted a particular problem in urban areas, where most homes are connected to central heating and hot water systems.

The report says that almost 95% of Kyiv residents relied on central heating systems in the basement, the power of which requires electric pumps to reach the upper floors of the building.

“Without the emergency power supply, millions of city dwellers could be left without heat,” it said.

HRMMU quoted experts as saying that Ukrainians should expect blackouts between four and 18 hours a day this winter.

The report also says that in the summer of 2024, energy issues were the second most common reason Ukrainians cited for leaving the country.