EU Envoy Condemns Russia’s Strikes on Ukraine’s Energy Grid as “Unforgivable War Crimes”

Russia’s Winter Strategy: Weaponizing Cold and Darkness

As temperatures drop, Russia is once again targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure—a tactic that European officials are calling not just barbaric, but criminal.

In a powerful statement published on October 10, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Maternova accused Moscow of committing “unforgivable war crimes” by systematically striking power plants and heating systems in Kyiv and other regions.

“The war in Ukraine continues every day. Civilians are dying. Children are dying. These are unforgivable war crimes by Russia,” Maternova wrote after spending the night sheltering on her bathroom floor during another massive attack on the capital.

The key target, she said, was the Kyiv Thermal Power Plant—leaving tens of thousands of households without electricity and water.

“For me, it was another sleepless night on the bathroom floor, as Kyiv was under a massive barrage of ballistic & cruise missiles and drones. A key target was Kyiv’s thermal electric plant. In most of the left bank of the river and the suburb of Brovary, ten of thousands of households are without electricity and water! Many buildings are in flames. Rescuers are still wading through destroyed buildings as I write this. Many many people are injured. In their recent massive attacks on Ukraine, the Russians have been concentrating on energy assets. They aim to cut people off from heating, electricity and water ahead of the approaching winter.”

Renewed Attacks Signal Moscow’s Return to Energy Terror

The strikes on October 10 mark the latest phase in Russia’s campaign to cripple Ukraine’s energy grid, a strategy first launched in autumn 2022.

The objective remains the same: to break civilian morale ahead of winter by plunging entire cities into darkness and cold.

Ukrainian officials confirmed that the recent barrage involved ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as Shahed drones, targeting not only Kyiv but also Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa.

The pattern of attacks—precision-guided strikes on power generation and distribution sites—indicates deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure, which constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law.

By weaponizing winter, the Kremlin is seeking what it could not achieve on the battlefield: forcing societal exhaustion and energy collapse in Ukraine.

“Unforgivable War Crimes”: The Legal and Moral Weight of Maternova’s Words

Ambassador Maternova’s statement goes beyond diplomatic condemnation.
By explicitly labeling the strikes “war crimes,” she aligns the EU’s political narrative with the legal terminology of the Rome Statute and the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit deliberate attacks on civilian objects.

Under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), intentionally directing attacks against “civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives” constitutes a war crime.

Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General has already documented hundreds of such cases since 2022, and Article 438 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code classifies them as violations of the laws and customs of war.

The EU envoy’s words carry political weight because they signal Brussels’ readiness to formally support war-crime proceedings against Russian decision-makers.

This adds momentum to ongoing discussions within the EU about establishing a Special Tribunal for Russian Aggression, a legal mechanism to address crimes that fall outside the ICC’s current jurisdiction.

Personal Witness from the EU’s Top Representative in Kyiv

Maternova’s post stood out not only for its diplomatic language but also for its personal immediacy.

“I spent the night on the bathroom floor,” she wrote, describing the chaos in Kyiv as explosions echoed across the city during Russian bombardments.

Her testimony underscores the psychological and humanitarian toll that Ukrainians—and the international community working alongside them—endure daily.

As the EU’s senior representative, Maternova’s experience transforms an abstract geopolitical crisis into a shared European reality: the war is no longer distant.

Earlier in an interview with “Ukrainian Pravda,” she had already predicted that winter 2025 would be “extremely difficult” for Ukrainians, citing ongoing shortages in power generation and damage to energy infrastructure.

Europe’s Response: From Condemnation to Accountability

Maternova’s condemnation comes as the European Union steps up both humanitarian and military assistance for Ukraine’s energy security.

Several EU member states—including Germany, France, and Finland—have pledged transformers, generators, and energy repair kits, while Rheinmetall’s Skyranger 35 systems, recently ordered for Ukraine, are designed to protect key infrastructure from drone and missile attacks.

However, the next frontier in EU policy is not just defense or reconstruction—it’s accountability. European diplomats are increasingly emphasizing the need to prosecute the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure.

In Brussels, the conversation has shifted from political condemnation to legal strategy: how to document, preserve, and present evidence of Russia’s crimes in court. Maternova’s statement, delivered publicly and personally, is therefore more than a moral appeal—it is a foundation for future prosecution.