UN commission says Russian energy attacks were war crimes

A United Nations commission has concluded that Russian authorities committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by intentionally attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure under a policy to deprive civilians of essential supplies and cause suffering. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said Russian commanders knew heating facilities were indispensable to civilians, particularly during winter. Its findings, published October 26 and submitted to the UN General Assembly, cover attacks on power and heating infrastructure and their effects on civilians. The commission said the attacks were directed at civilian objects and constituted war crimes. It also classified them as crimes against humanity in the form of other inhumane acts, citing what it described as a state policy. Those are the commission’s conclusions; the reports do not independently establish the underlying allegations. To assess civilian conditions, the commission said it gathered testimony from 255 people who experienced the effects of the attacks, alongside information from officials, doctors and nongovernmental organizations. It reported that millions of Ukrainians endured prolonged...