Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure deepen humanitarian harm and endanger nuclear safety: UK statement to the OSCE

Thank you, Chair. Last weekend, Russia again struck Ukraine’s power system with large waves of drones and missiles, killing civilians, damaging energy facilities across multiple regions and triggering blackouts.

Russia has insisted that it targets only military-relevant facilities and that anything short of plunging Ukraine into total darkness – which would bring with it a nuclear catastrophe – was showing restraint. This argument collapses on contact with the facts.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission has assessed Russia’s campaign against Ukraine’s electricity network as likely violating international humanitarian law because of its predictable, severe and widespread civilian impacts on heating, water, sanitation, healthcare and education. Recurrent strikes on energy infrastructu