Madar (International) - The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has concluded that Russia's persistent attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure constitute war crimes as they weaponise the cold of winter, Reuters reported on Monday, October 26, 2026, via Al Jazeera English.
In a report submitted to the UN General Assembly on Monday, the commission laid out years of Russian attacks on heating plants, power lines, gas facilities and other infrastructure since the autumn of 2022. It said "the frequency, intensity and geographic range of systematic waves of attacks with hundreds of drones and missiles at a time have increased over the years".
The report focused on the severe winter of 2025-2026, when temperatures dropped to minus 21 degrees Celsius, leaving millions of people facing lengthy outages of heating, electricity, water and gas. The commission assessed that the Russian commanders ordering the attacks knew that the heating facilities targeted were indispensable to the civilian population.
It concluded that Russian authorities "committed war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects". Commission chair Erik Mose said that as the cold season approaches, "the attacks have intensified once again, raising serious concerns about the threats to civilians' lives and health".
The commission also accused Moscow of human trafficking in connection with the recruitment of foreign fighters into the Russian armed forces, in violation of international human rights law, saying the majority of those recruited have been killed or gone missing, while others were injured or captured.
On the ground, a Russian strike on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia injured four people overnight, according to the regional governor on Telegram, while Russia's Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of repeatedly striking the Russian-controlled town of Oleshky ahead of a planned local ceasefire this week.
