UN panel: Russia is committing crimes against humanity by targeting civilians in Ukraine

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Russia is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by intentionally attacking civilian infrastructure – including vital energy systems – in Ukraine, an independent UN investigations panel said on Monday.

Russian forces have been targeting Ukrainian power infrastructure since the early months of the war in 2022, and massively ramped up these attacks at the beginning of last year’s winter, leaving millions of Ukrainians freezing in the darkness of their homes.

A new report published by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine on Monday and shared with CNN, said these attacks “were carried out with intent” and were in line with Russia’s “state policy to deprive the civilian population from essential energy supplies and cause suffering.”

“Russian commanders who were ordering these attacks knew that the heating facilities they targeted were indispensable to the civilian population, in particular during the winter,” the report, which is being submitted to the UN General Assembly, said.

CNN has approached the Kremlin for comment.

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Large-scale Russian drone and missile attacks last winter reduced Ukraine’s thermal power generation capacities by 70 per cent in the most affected areas, according to Kyiv. The suffering was made worse by an unusually cold winter with temperatures dropping to as low as -30 degrees Celsius (-22 F) on multiple occasions.

The commission was established by the UN’s Human Rights Council just days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

It has previously reported on other aspects of Russia’s war on Ukraine, including allegations of sexual and gender-based violence committed by Russian armed forces, and the wide-spread forced deportations of Ukrainian children by Russian authorities.

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In this latest report, the commission describes the dire impacts of prolonged cold exposure on Ukrainian civilians, saying that the country’s medical authorities documented deaths caused by low temperatures in homes, and even in hospitals.

“Medical personnel from hospitals reported that during the past winter, they attended to patients who developed cold-related trauma, including various degrees of frostbite and hypothermia. The patients had developed these conditions at home, due to exposure to unheated premises and required hospitalization,” the report said.

The report quotes a civilian woman living in Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth largest city, who describes the impact the Russian attacks had on her. “Cold—it paralyzes you; there’s simply no way to get warm, and terrifying thoughts come into your mind,” she said.

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Blaming Putin and others

The UN commission report names several high-profile Russian officials as the people most responsible for what it describes as “war crimes and the crimes against humanity.”

It says Russian President Vladimir Putin made several “statements concerning instructions to commit attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.”

It also alleges that evidence collected over the past few years shows that Russia’s former Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu and his successor Andrey Belousov, as well the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, have been responsible for planning and overseeing attacks.

The International Criminal Court has previously issued arrest warrants against Putin , Shoigu and Gerasimov for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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The report mentions a declaration made by the Russian Ministry of Defence in August, which announced attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and said: “In winter you will freeze.”

Ukraine is increasingly struggling to defend itself against these large-scale attacks because of a critical shortage of air defense missiles. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has made repeated pleas with Kyiv’s western allies for more ammunition, specifically pointing to the upcoming winter as a major worry.

Kyiv had been targeting Russian oil and gas infrastructure, in efforts to hurt the Kremlin’s revenues from energy exports. However, it has eased these attacks after criticism from US President Donald Trump, who has blamed Ukraine for rising gas prices.

The report released on Monday also investigated Russia’s methods of recruiting foreign nationals to serve in its armed forces, concluding they amount to human rights violations and trafficking.

CNN has reported extensively on Russia’s use of deception, bribery and blackmail to lure foreigners into joining its military. People from multiple countries in Africa, India and Latin America have described being promised jobs in Russia only to find themselves on the frontlines.

The commission said it found “compelling evidence” that Russian authorities, working with agents, have “trafficked persons from 29 countries, using deception or coercion, to recruit them in the Russian armed forces.”

It said the fact that Russia has used the same tactics to recruit people from multiple countries “demonstrates a high degree of coordination between agents operating around the world and the Russian authorities.“

“Promised payments and bonuses were usually diverted by recruiting agents and military commanders, passports and phones were often confiscated, and contacts between agents and families were interrupted, once the recruits were deployed to the front.”

The report concludes that Russia violated the recruits’ fundamental human rights, including the rights to life, freedom, health, and to be treated humanely.

The commission also investigated Ukraine’s recruitment of foreign nationals into its army and said that testimonies it collected showed that those joining the Ukrainian armed forces “did so knowingly and voluntarily,” understood the contracts they were signing and received salaries.

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联合国一个独立调查小组周一表示，俄罗斯蓄意攻击乌克兰的民用基础设施（包括重要的能源系统），犯下了战争罪和反人类罪。

自 2022 年战争爆发以来，俄罗斯军队一直以乌克兰电力基础设施为目标，并在去年冬天开始的时候大幅加大了这些袭击力度，导致数百万乌克兰人在黑暗的家中挨冻。

乌克兰独立国际调查委员会周一发布了一份新报告，该报告已与 CNN 分享。报告称，这些袭击“是有预谋的”，符合俄罗斯“剥夺平民基本能源供应并造成苦难的国家政策”。

这份提交给联合国大会的报告称：“下令发动这些袭击的俄罗斯指挥官知道，他们袭击的目标供暖设施对平民来说至关重要，尤其是在冬季。”

CNN已联系克里姆林宫寻求置评。

Thomas Peter/路透社/档案照片

据基辅方面称，去年冬天俄罗斯大规模无人机和导弹袭击导致乌克兰受灾最严重地区的火力发电能力下降了70%。异常寒冷的冬季加剧了灾情，气温多次降至零下30摄氏度（零下22华氏度）。

该委员会是联合国人权理事会在俄罗斯于 2022 年 2 月对乌克兰发动全面入侵几天后成立的。

该媒体此前曾报道过俄罗斯对乌克兰战争的其他方面，包括俄罗斯武装部队涉嫌实施性暴力和基于性别的暴力，以及俄罗斯当局大规模强行驱逐乌克兰儿童。

奥尔加·伊瓦先科/彭博社/盖蒂图片社

泽连斯基告诉CNN：“我和特朗普之间没有任何私人恩怨。”

在这份最新报告中，委员会描述了长期暴露于寒冷环境对乌克兰平民造成的严重影响，并表示该国医疗机构记录了因家中甚至医院温度过低而导致的死亡事件。

报告称：“医院医务人员报告说，在过去的冬天里，他们接诊了一些因寒冷而受伤的患者，包括不同程度的冻伤和体温过低。这些患者都是在家中因长时间处于无暖气环境中而出现这些症状，需要住院治疗。”

报告援引一位居住在乌克兰第四大城市第聂伯罗的平民妇女的话，描述了俄罗斯的袭击对她的影响。“寒冷——它让人麻木；根本没有办法取暖，可怕的想法会涌上心头，”她说。

弗拉迪斯拉夫·穆西延科/法新社/盖蒂图片社

指责普京和其他人

联合国委员会的报告指出，几位俄罗斯高级官员应对报告中所描述的“战争罪和反人类罪”负有最大责任。

报道称，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京发表了数份“关于指示对乌克兰能源基础设施发动袭击的声明”。

报告还称，过去几年收集的证据表明，俄罗斯前国防部长谢尔盖·绍伊古及其继任者安德烈·别洛乌索夫，以及总参谋长瓦列里·格拉西莫夫，都对策划和监督袭击负有责任。

国际刑事法院此前已对普京、绍伊古和格拉西莫夫发出逮捕令，指控他们犯有战争罪和反人类罪。

玛莎的丈夫在前线作战，但她却被一架俄罗斯无人机炸死了。

随着乌克兰天气转冷，俄罗斯已明确表示将继续恐吓其邻国。

报告提到俄罗斯国防部在 8 月份发表的一份声明，该声明宣布将对乌克兰的能源基础设施发动袭击，并称：“冬天你们会冻死的。”

由于防空导弹严重短缺，乌克兰越来越难以抵御这些大规模袭击。乌克兰总统泽连斯基已多次向基辅的西方盟友请求提供更多弹药，并特别指出即将到来的冬季是一个主要隐患。

基辅此前一直以俄罗斯的石油和天然气基础设施为攻击目标，试图削弱克里姆林宫的能源出口收入。然而，在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普批评乌克兰导致天然气价格上涨后，基辅已减少了此类攻击。

周一发布的这份报告还调查了俄罗斯招募外国公民在其武装部队服役的方式，并得出结论，这些方式构成侵犯人权和人口贩运。

CNN曾多次报道俄罗斯使用欺骗、贿赂和勒索等手段诱骗外国人加入其军队。来自非洲、印度和拉丁美洲多个国家的民众反映，他们被承诺在俄罗斯工作，结果却被派往前线。

该委员会表示，他们发现了“确凿的证据”，表明俄罗斯当局与特工合作，“利用欺骗或胁迫手段，从 29 个国家贩运人员，以招募他们加入俄罗斯武装部队”。

报告称，俄罗斯使用相同策略从多个国家招募人员这一事实“表明，在世界各地活动的特工与俄罗斯当局之间存在高度协调”。

“承诺的报酬和奖金通常会被征兵代理人和军事指挥官挪用，护照和手机经常被没收，一旦新兵被派往前线，代理人与家人之间的联系就会中断。”

报告总结称，俄罗斯侵犯了新兵的基本人权，包括生命权、自由权、健康权和人道待遇权。

该委员会还调查了乌克兰招募外国公民加入其军队的情况，并表示，其收集的证词表明，加入乌克兰武装部队的人“是明知且自愿的”，理解他们签署的合同，并领取了薪水。