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Ukraine’s Security Service Classifies Russia’s Energy Strikes as Crimes Against Humanity
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Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has classified Russia’s systematic strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as crimes against humanity, citing extensive evidence that the attacks are aimed at destroying civilian living conditions, Radio Svoboda reported on January 15.
According to SBU, its investigators have documented a sustained campaign by Russia targeting power generation and heating systems as part of a broader policy directed against Ukraine’s civilian population.
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SBU spokesperson Andriy Dekhtiarenko said the attacks meet the legal criteria for crimes against humanity under international law.
From the start of the current heating season, the SBU has recorded 256 Russian air attacks on energy and heat-supply facilities
Since October 2025, Russian forces have deliberately struck 11 hydroelectric power plants, 45 major combined heat and power plants, 49 thermal power stations, and 151 electrical substations across Ukraine, Radio Svoboda wrote, citing SBU.
The strikes were carried out using combinations of ballistic and cruise missiles—including Iskander, Kalibr, Kh-101, and Kh-69—as well as Geran-type drones.
The most heavily targeted regions included Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast, as well as Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Chernihiv oblasts.
The SBU said the attacks, often launched during periods of severe cold, caused widespread electricity and heating outages and disrupted water supplies for millions of civilians.
Investigators are collecting evidence at every strike site to pursue accountability for Russian military personnel involved, stressing that crimes against humanity carry liability in both Ukrainian and foreign courts.
On January 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the introduction of a state of emergency in Ukraine’s energy sector, as the country grapples with widespread power and heating outages caused by ongoing Russian strikes and worsening winter conditions.
The announcement followed a high-level emergency meeting focused on the critical energy situation nationwide, with particular attention given to the capital, Kyiv.
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energy system since autumn 2025. Russian forces carried out roughly 4,500 attacks on energy infrastructure over the course of 2025 alone, according to Radio Svoboda, citing Ukraine’s Energy Ministry.
Previously, it was reported that Kyiv was facing an extremely difficult situation, unprecedented in scale over four years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as the capital struggles to restore heating and electricity after recent Russian mass attacks on infrastructure.
