Russian missiles and drones have hit Ukraine's power grid in recent weeks, plunging people into complete darkness during one of the coldest winters in the country's history, BTA reports, citing the AP.
Kiev has accused Moscow of illegally attacking energy infrastructure during the war to deprive civilians of lighting, heating and running water.
"Taking advantage of the coldest winter days to terrorize people is more important for Russia than choosing diplomacy," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday, ahead of a new round of talks to end the conflict, as temperatures in Kiev plunged to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Russia says its attacks are a legitimate part of its military campaign against the neighboring country. Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is itself considered an illegal act of aggression.
So, are attacks on energy facilities permissible during war?
What does international law say?
Under international law, belligerents can attack the power grid if the attack is "directly directed against a legitimate military objective," but they are not allowed to cause excessive civilian casualties, said David Crane, former chief prosecutor at the U.N.'s Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone.
In the case of Russia's attacks on Ukraine, "indiscriminate, massed strikes fall far short of what is legal," he said in an emailed response to questions from The Associated Press.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says parts of the power systems that provide essential services to citizens, "are essentially civilian objects and as such enjoy a protected status against direct and retaliatory attacks, as well as against incidental damage".
In 2024, judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) dealing with the pre-trial proceedings issued arrest warrants for senior Russian military officials and a former defense minister for their alleged involvement in missile strikes on electrical infrastructure.
In announcing the arrest warrants for former defense minister and now secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, and chief of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, the court said the judges found "reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged strikes were directed against civilian infrastructure facilities, and for those facilities, which may have been qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, the expected incidental civilian damage and injury would be clearly excessive in relation to the expected military benefit".
Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute (the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court), rejects the jurisdiction of the ICC and refuses to extradite suspects to face trial in The Hague, Netherlands.
What Russia says
The Russian military has repeatedly stated that its forces are striking energy and other infrastructure facilities that support Ukraine's military industry and armed forces. It denies carrying out attacks on residential buildings, despite daily evidence to the contrary.
Yesterday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that "our (Russian) military is striking targets that they believe are linked to the Kiev regime's military complex, the operation is ongoing".
What Ukraine says
Kiev accuses Russia of trying to undermine the will of Ukrainians to fight by causing severe suffering to the civilian population, forced to live in the dark and in very cold temperatures in their homes.
The authorities claim that Russia has tried to paralyze Ukraine's electricity grid by striking substations, transformers, turbines and generators at power plants. Ukraine's largest private energy operator DTEK said the major midnight attack earlier this week was the ninth since October against the company's thermal power plants.
According to a joint assessment by the World Bank, the European Commission and the United Nations, Ukraine's energy sector has suffered direct damage from the war amounting to more than $20 billion.