Russian authorities committed war crimes by intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, and crimes against humanity through other inhumane acts, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has concluded. The Commission submitted its report to the UN General Assembly's human rights committee on 26 October 2026. These are inquiry findings, not a court verdict or conviction.

Energy attacks since autumn 2022

The report covers attacks on energy infrastructure since autumn 2022, with waves of hundreds of drones and missiles growing more frequent, intense and geographically broad. It focused in particular on winter 2025–2026, when temperatures fell to minus 21°C and millions of people faced prolonged outages of heating, electricity, water and gas. The Commission said Russian commanders knew the heating facilities targeted were indispensable to civilians, especially in winter, and described a state policy to deprive civilians of essential services.

How the Commission reached its findings

The findings draw on accounts from 255 people in Dnipro, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr Oblasts, as well as Ukrainian authorities, doctors and non-governmental organisations. The Commission also found compelling evidence that Russian authorities trafficked men from 29 countries into the Russian armed forces. Russia has previously denied targeting civilians. The report now goes to UN member states; whether it leads to any court proceedings is a separate question, and this article does not present the inquiry's conclusions as a judicial verdict. Sources: Devdiscourse on the UN Commission report and Anadolu Agency report via Bytes Europe.