The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, Netherlands, has issued arrest warrants for two Russian military commanders.
Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash and Admiral Viktor Sokolov "are each allegedly responsible" for a number of war crimes, including "directing attacks at civilian objects," following strikes on Ukrainian electricity infrastructure during the winter of 2022 to 2023, the ICC said.
A human rights lawyer involved in the war crimes investigations in Ukraine told Newsweek that Russia has "a policy to target civilians," in its full-scale invasion.
Kobylash was commander of the Long-Range Aviation of the Aerospace Force, and Sokolov was the then-commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe the pair was responsible for missile strikes that forces under their command carried out against Ukrainian electric infrastructure between at least least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023.
Attacks on civilian objects are prohibited under the Geneva Conventions and additional protocols shaped by international courts.
Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin for comment.
Moscow has denied targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine although there is extensive evidence of apartment blocks and facilities such as those providing electricity being hit by Russian missiles and drones.
The ICC announcement forms the second set of warrants for the arrest of Russian officials linked to the war in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin and his children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, face allegations of war crimes linked to the abduction of Ukrainian children, which the Kremlin has denied.
Catriona Murdoch, a partner at Global Rights Compliance, which has been investigating Russian attacks in Ukraine, said the ICC announced the first arrest warrants for crimes against humanity "in the context of the full-scale invasion, capturing the widespread and systematic nature of these types of attacks."
Murdoch told Newsweek that there were many ways attacks on energy infrastructure constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law "but the selection of the crime of other 'inhumane acts indictment,' captures the broader impact of these attacks on innocent Ukrainian civilians."
"It rightly focuses on the indignity and fear suffered by countless, women, children and men, alongside the attempted destruction of Ukraine's cities and infrastructure," Murdoch said.
"The arrest warrants, highlight Russia's failed but systematic attempts to dismantle and destroy, Ukraine's brave resistance and the tenacity of the ICC and Ukrainian government counterparts in pursuing accountability."
On October 10, 2022, Russia launched 84 missiles and 24 kamikaze drones followed by attacks that caused $10 billion in damages and leaving 12 million with no or limited access to power, according to the United Nations Development Program. The ICC said the expected civilian harm and damage "would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage."
Sokolov was reportedly killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet's headquarters in Sevastopol in September 2023, according to Kyiv, although later a video purported to show him meeting military leaders. The White House has not commented on whether Sokolov was confirmed to be alive.
Wayne Jordash, a British lawyer supporting Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General in analyzing crimes against humanity in Putin's invasion said that reports of Russian war crimes should focus minds in U.S. Congress ahead of its vote on backing a $60 billion aid package for Kyiv.
"What is clear after two years is that there is a policy to target civilians, to target them in order to force their capitulation to Russian rule," Jordash, managing partner of Global Rights Compliance, told Newsweek. "The stark reality is that more and more Ukrainians are dying by the day as the Ukraine aid package remains stalled in Congress.
"There's no question that battlefield successes correspond to the type of weapons and the volume of weapons which have been provided by the West. Ukraine is fast running out of supplies to defend itself," he added.
Update 3/5/24, 11:17 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 3/6/24, 10 a.m. ET: This article was updated with Jordash's position at Global Rights Compliance.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
