THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Russian missiles and drones have hit Ukraine’s power grid in recent weeks, plunging people into freezing darkness during the country’s coldest winter on record.
Here’s what international law says about injury to power facilities in warUkraine has accused Russia of illegally targeting electricity infrastructure to deny civilians electricity, heat and running water during the war.
“Using the coldest days of winter to terrorize people is more important to Russia than diplomacy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday, on the eve of a new round of talks on ending the conflict and temperatures in Kiev near minus 20C.
Russia says its strikes are a legitimate part of its military campaign against its neighbor. Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is widely regarded as an illegal act of aggression.
So, during wartime, are attacks on power installations permitted?
David Crane, former chief prosecutor of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, said fighters could legally target a power grid if the attack “directly affects a legitimate military objective” – but they cannot cause excessive civilian casualties.
In the case of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, “arbitrariness and massive targeting do not come close to the law,” he said in an emailed response to questions from The Associated Press.
The International Committee of the Red Cross states that parts of the energy system that provide essential services to civilians “are in principle civilian objects, and are protected against direct attack and retaliation as well as collateral damage.”
Pre-trial judges at the International Criminal Court, in fact, issued arrest warrants in 2024 for top Russian military brass and the country’s former defense minister over alleged involvement in missile attacks targeting electricity infrastructure.
In announcing the warrants against former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia’s top military officer, General Valery Gerasimov, the court said judges found “reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged attacks were directed against civilian objects and installations that could qualify as military objectives at the relevant time, expected collateral damage to civilians as opposed to military advantages and expected institutional damage.”
Russia is not a member of the court, rejecting its jurisdiction and refusing to extradite the suspects to face trial at the ICC court in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Russian military has repeatedly said it has targeted energy facilities and other infrastructure that support Ukraine’s military industry and armed forces. It has denied targeting residential areas despite daily evidence to the contrary.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted on Wednesday that “our military forces are striking targets that they believe are linked to the Kiev government’s military complex, operations are continuing.”
Kiev accuses Russia of seeking to feed Ukrainians’ hunger for war by inflicting grinding suffering on civilians forced to live in dark, freezing houses.
Authorities say Russia has attempted to disrupt Ukraine’s electricity network by targeting power plant substations, transformers, turbines and generators. Ukraine’s largest private power company, DTEK, said the overnight attack this week was the ninth major attack on the company’s thermal power plant since October.
According to joint estimates by the World Bank, the European Commission and the United Nations, Ukraine’s energy sector has suffered more than $20 billion in direct war losses.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without text modification
