UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine in attack energy infrastructureleaving millions of people without electricity or heat in freezing temperatures, a UN-backed investigation reported on Monday.
The investigation also found that Russia had recruited men from 29 countries into its armed forces “by deception or coercion” to fight in Ukraine, in violation of international law. The men, aged 18 to 60, “mostly came from vulnerable and marginalized communities, with poor economic backgrounds and low levels of education,” the statement said.
The independent commission of inquiry was authorized by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations shortly after The full-scale invasion of Russia of Ukraine in February 2022. Its report to the UN General Assembly human rights committee on Monday was the first to focus on the impact of Russia’s large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Power outages left millions of civilians suffering in the freezing darkness of winter, the elderly without elevators to reach shelters during missile and drone attacks, and hospital patients without essential devices to keep them alive, the report said.
The commission concluded that the attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure constituted war crimes because they were intentionally directed against civilian objects, as well as crimes against humanity for “inflicting great suffering on civilians,” commission chairman Erik Mose said at a U.N. news conference, speaking by video.
Mose, a former Norwegian judge, said the intensification of attacks heading into this winter raises serious concerns about threats to civilians.
The commission said it based its findings on the testimonies of 255 Ukrainians who endured winter conditions in Kyiv and eight other regions in 2025-2026, as well as those of government officials, doctors and civic organizations.
Mose said the Russians did not respond to requests for comment on any of the commission’s reports, including this one.
Russia’s UN mission said Monday that Russia did not recognize the commission’s mandate and claimed its findings were based on “falsified data.”
Throughout the war, Russia consistently maintained that its forces only struck military or military-related targets in Ukraine, or targets used in the interests of the Ukrainian armed forces, despite numerous reports and evidence indicating otherwise.
Russian authorities openly and actively recruit foreigners into the military, offering benefits such as accelerated Russian citizenship or making military enlistment mandatory for some foreigners seeking permanent residency in Russia. Official rhetoric generally emphasizes the voluntary nature of these enlistments.
The report said, however, that the men were recruited through deception and coercion, in coordination with agents operating in other countries who presented themselves as legitimate, government-approved businesses.
The agents obtained visas and sometimes traveled with the men, who, soon after arriving, were forced to sign documents in Russian with the Defense Ministry that they did not understand, the commission said.
“The recruits were shocked to discover that they would serve in the Russian armed forces,” the statement said.
The commission said it investigated the recruitment of nationals from 48 countries and found evidence that men from 29 countries were recruited into the Russian armed forces through deception or coercion. He named the following 29 countries: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Botswana, Cameroon, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ghana, Honduras, India, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
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