SBU classifies Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy and thermal power plants as crimes against humanity

Russia's strikes on the Ukrainian energy sector are qualified as crimes against humanity. About said The Security Service of Ukraine, stating that it had collected the necessary evidence for this.

The SBU confirms that attacks on the energy sector are a consistent policy of the Kremlin aimed at destroying the Ukrainian people. According to the SBU, since the beginning of the 2025-2026 heating season, 256 Russian air attacks on energy facilities and heating systems have been documented.

In particular, from the beginning of October 2025 to January 2026, the occupiers targeted 11 hydroelectric power plants and 45 of the largest thermal power plants in Ukraine. The enemy also conducted 49 targeted air strikes with drones and missiles against thermal power plants and 151 against power substations in different regions of Ukraine.

According to the case file, most of the attacks were recorded in Kyiv and the region, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Chernihiv regions. The enemy used Iskander, Kalibr, X-101, X-69 ballistic and cruise missiles, and Geranium drones.

According to the SBU, such strikes during the period of sharp cold snap led to large-scale power and heat outages, disruption of water supply in the homes of "millions of civilian Ukrainians."

The Service qualifies Russia's systematic destruction of Ukraine's energy system as crimes against humanity, as it is a consistent creation of living conditions aimed at destroying part of the population. One of the peculiarities of this article of the Criminal Code is that it defines this category of shelling as crimes of an international nature. And they are punishable not only in Ukrainian but also in international courts.

• january 14 Kryvyi Rih is partially left without heating and electricity due to the Shaheda attack.
• On the same day, Kyiv Mayor Klitschko announced that the capital was in the most difficult situation in the four years of full-scale war after the massive Russian attacks on January 9 and 13.
• The President said that after Russian attacks in the entire energy sector of Ukraine a state of emergency will be declared.
• On the night of January 15, Russia attacked on critical infrastructure Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Lviv, and Kharkiv regions.