Russia committed war crimes by deliberately targeting Ukraine ’s energy infrastructure, leaving millions of civilians without electricity and heating during freezing winter conditions, a UN-backed commission of inquiry reportedly said on Monday.
Presenting the findings, commission chair Erik Mose, a former Norwegian judge, said the attacks had exposed civilians to severe hardship, with power cuts leaving elderly people unable to use elevators to reach shelters during missile and drone attacks and hospital patients deprived of electricity needed to operate critical medical equipment.
The inquiry also considered information provided by government officials, doctors and civil society organisations. Its findings were based on testimonies from 255 Ukrainians who experienced winter conditions in Kyiv and eight other regions during 2025-26, according to the commission.
Mose said Russia had not responded to requests for comment on any of the commission’s reports, including the latest findings. Russia’s UN Mission, however, said on Monday that Moscow did not recognise the commission’s mandate and dismissed its findings as being based on “falsified data”.
