NEW YORK / VIENNA – Russian authorities have committed war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects and the crimes against humanity of other inhumane acts with continuous attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, said the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine in a new report submitted to the UN General Assembly.
The Commission also concluded that Russian authorities have recruited men trafficked from different countries into the Russian armed forces, in violation of international human rights law.
The Commission has investigated the impact on civilians of large-scale attacks by Russian armed forces on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, particularly during the severe winter of 2025-2026, as well as their cumulative effect since autumn 2022. 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 and inflicted significant damage to Ukraine’s energy sector.
Last winter, when temperatures dropped to minus 21°C, millions of people in Ukraine faced lengthy outages of heating, electricity, water, and gas, and had to cope with intolerable living conditions.
“As the cold season approaches, the attacks have intensified once again, raising serious concerns about the threats to civilians’ lives and health,” said Erik Møse, Chair of the Commission.
Prolonged exposure to cold, deprivation of basic utilities, and the need to constantly devise survival strategies have placed a considerable strain on the physical and mental health of civilians.
A 53-year-old man residing in Kyiv city described his efforts to remain awake through the night out of fear of falling asleep and dying from the cold. He stated, “the scariest thing was to fall asleep and not to wake up; it was like torture to be scared of dying from cold.”
Older persons and those with reduced mobility have been severely affected. Due to the risk of getting trapped in elevators in case of a sudden power cut, they could not go to a safe place during air raid alerts and had to remain in unheated dwellings without electricity or water, with no access to life support devices or essential services. A 74-year-old woman from Kyiv said, “I lay cold and hungry, without medicine, without anything”.
Living conditions were particularly difficult for families with children. The lengthy closures of schools at times of acute energy crisis disrupted education and the absence of heating at home made children sick, adding further challenges for families.
According to the Commission’s assessment, the Russian commanders ordering the attacks had the knowledge that the heating facilities they targeted in large civilian agglomerations were indispensable to the civilian population, particularly during the winter. Russian authorities have made official declarations concerning further attacks and referred to a plan to carry them out. The Commission concluded that they committed war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects.
The evidence collected demonstrates that the attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure were carried out with intent and pursuant to a state policy to deprive the civilian population of electricity and other essential energy-dependent services and cause suffering. The Commission concluded that the Russian authorities have committed the crimes against humanity of other inhumane acts.
The Commission has relied on the accounts of 255 persons who endured winter under these conditions in Dnipro, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr Oblasts, as well as Ukrainian authorities, medical doctors, and non-governmental organisations.
The Commission also examined attacks by Ukrainian armed forces on energy infrastructure in the Russian Federation and in the occupied areas of Ukraine. However, it was unable to further investigate the impact of such attacks as the Russian Federation did not allow access or respond to the Commission’s requests for information.
With regard to the issue of the recruitment of foreign nationals to serve in the Russian armed forces, the Commission found compelling evidence that Russian authorities have trafficked persons from 29 countries. The human trafficking was done through deception and coercion, in coordination with agents or agencies operating in different countries or geographic regions.
The agents or agencies who approached the recruits presented themselves as legitimate and Government-endorsed businesses. They processed visas and travel documents for groups of recruits and in some cases travelled with them.
Soon after arrival, however, the men were forced to sign contracts in Russian with the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. The Commission noted a high degree of coordination between agents operating around the world and the Russian authorities.
A 35-year-old woman, the wife of a man who was recruited from the Caribbean, said, “They took his passport and just told him to sign here, here and here on the contract. It was only in Russian. He was totally pressured and had no choice”. The men have been deployed on frontlines in Ukraine and assigned dangerous tasks. Many have been killed or have gone missing, others have surrendered or were captured by the Ukrainian armed forces, thereby acquiring the status of prisoners of war.
The Commission reiterates that international law prohibits attacks against civilians and civilian objects and calls for such attacks to stop.
It calls for all the trafficked persons to be discharged from the Russian armed forces.
Background: The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine is an independent body mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to, among other things, investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and related crimes in the context of the aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation. The Commission comprises Erik Møse (Chair), Pablo de Greiff and Vrinda Grover.
