Ukraine submits evidence of Russia’s energy attacks to International Criminal Court

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has formally submitted evidence of Russia’s systematic strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure to the International Criminal Court, calling the campaign a large-scale assault bearing the hallmarks of crimes against humanity.

Ruslan Kravchenko announced on Facebook that his office filed an information communication with the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor covering Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities between July 2025 and February 2026. The document was prepared by the Prosecutor General’s Office together with the Main Investigative Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine and an interagency panel of military experts, in line with Article 15 of the Rome Statute.

The most destructive campaign yet

According to Kravchenko, the current heating season’s strikes were organized by the top military and political leadership of the Russian Federation and targeted every category of energy facility across most Ukrainian regions. The attacks were carried out as prolonged, coordinated strikes combining land, air, and sea-based weapons systems.

Their scale surpasses anything documented in previous periods. As Kravchenko stated, the intensity of this campaign exceeds the combined impact of Russia’s two prior waves of mass attacks—from October 2022 to March 2023 and from March 2024 to March 2025. The entire energy supply chain was affected, from generation through high-voltage transmission to local distribution networks. Thermal power plants, hydroelectric stations, combined heat and power facilities, and distribution grids all sustained damage.

“The cumulative effect of the shelling, taking into account weather conditions, made this campaign more systematic and destructive than the previous ones,” Kravchenko said. “Almost every resident of Ukraine felt the consequences.”

Eleven civilians were killed and 68 injured as a direct result of missile strikes on energy infrastructure during the period covered by the submission.

“No military advantage”—The legal case

The filing argues that the attacks served no legitimate military purpose. “These attacks did not and could not give any military advantage,” Kravchenko wrote. “Their goal is to terrorize the population and create unsuitable living conditions.”

Ukraine is pursuing two parallel objectives through the ICC submission. The first is to expand charges against Russian officials already under investigation by the court’s prosecutor. The second is to identify additional individuals whose actions may fall within ICC jurisdiction—including specific military units and commanders who could have issued the relevant orders. Kravchenko said evidence collection is ongoing and will be provided to the ICC upon request, in accordance with Ukrainian criminal procedure and the Rome Statute.

ICC has already moved on energy infrastructure

The submission follows months of mounting international legal pressure on Russia over its energy targeting strategy. In late January, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys wrote to ICC prosecutors requesting new arrest warrants specifically in connection with the destruction of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The court has already acted on earlier strikes. In 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russia’s then-Defense Minister and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces in connection with attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure—an indication that the court considers such targeting a viable basis for prosecution.

The ICC had previously issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023 over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.

Insight News Media has reported previously on the ICC’s investigation into Russia’s cyberattacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure as possible war crimes, including the 2023 attack on the Kyivstar mobile network, carried out by the Russian military intelligence-linked Sandworm group. That investigation marked the first time ICC prosecutors examined cyberspace attacks for potential criminal liability.

Ukraine, while not having ratified the Rome Statute, has granted the ICC jurisdiction to investigate crimes committed on its territory since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.