09/19/2024September 19, 2024
Energy grid strikes may violate humanitarian law, UN mission says
Russia’s airstrikes targeting Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure likely violate international law, a UN monitoring body in Ukraine said on Thursday, with .
During its two-and-a-half-year full-scale invasion, Russia has fired hundreds of projectiles and drones at Ukrainian electricity generation, transmission and distribution facilities. Russia has launched concentrated waves of attacks on energy infrastructure ahead of each winter, with massive strikes on electricity production and transmission facilities in October 2022.
Ukrainian cities have frequently been left without power, in extreme cases for days or weeks on end, and various electricity-saving measures are often used around the country. Emergency power generation solutions like diesel generators are also common on city streets.
The UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) focused its report on nine waves of attacks between March and August this year.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple aspects of the military campaign to damage or destroy Ukraine’s civilian electricity and heat-producing and transmission infrastructure have violated foundational principles of international humanitarian law,” it said.
HRMMU said it had visited seven power plants either damaged or destroyed by attacks, as well as 28 affected communities.
Ukraine has called the targeting of its power grid a war crime, and .
Russia, meanwhile, argues that power infrastructure is a legitimate military target and has dismissed the charges against its officials.
The HRMMU said the attacks did not just risk compromising electricity supply, but could have knock-on effects for water supply, sewage and sanitation, heating and hot water provision, public health, education and the wider economy.
The report cited experts as saying that Ukrainians should anticipate typical power outages of between four and 18 hours per day this winter.
Ukraine’s national grid operator, Ukrenergo, reported a temporary overnight power cut in the northeastern Sumy region early on Thursday following a Russian attack on energy infrastructure.
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