SBU qualifies Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy sector as crimes against humanity
The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has gathered the necessary evidence base, which confirms that Russian attacks on the energy sector are a consistent policy of the Kremlin aimed at the destruction of the Ukrainian people, and have signs of crimes against humanity, the SBU said.
The SBU said on Telegram on Thursday that since the beginning of this year’s heating season, the SBU has documented 256 air attacks by the Russian Federation on energy facilities and heat supply systems of our state.
"In particular, from the beginning of October 2025 to the present, the occupiers have purposefully attacked 11 hydroelectric power plants and 45 of the largest thermal power plants of our state," the message says.
According to the SBU, the occupiers also carried out 49 targeted air strikes on thermal power plants and 151 on electrical substations in various regions of Ukraine.
"Each of the above-mentioned attacks was of a combined nature and was carried out using dozens of Russian drones and missiles," the SBU said.
According to the case materials, the enemy carried out most of the attacks on thermal and electrical generation facilities in Kyiv and Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv regions.
According to the report, it is documented that the Russian Federation attacked the critical infrastructure of our state with ballistic and cruise missiles Iskander, Kaliber, X-101, X-69 and drones of the Geran type.
"Such strikes during a period of sharp cooling led to large-scale power and heat outages, as well as disruption of water supply in the homes of millions of Ukrainian civilians," the Ukrainian special service notes.
"The Security Service qualifies the systematic destruction of Ukraine’s energy system by Russia as crimes against humanity (Article 442-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), since this is the consistent creation of living conditions aimed at the destruction of part of the population," the message emphasizes.
The SBU explains that one of the features of this article is that it defines this category of attacks as crimes of an international nature, for which strict liability is provided for both in Ukrainian and foreign courts.
"SBU investigators work at the site of each enemy strike and collect a large-scale evidence base so that every racist involved in these crimes receives the punishment he deserves," the department adds.
The investigation is being conducted under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General’s Office.