EU chief: Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine are war crimes 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday called Russian attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure war crimes and echoed concerns about the impending winter season. 

“Russia’s attacks against civilian infrastructure, especially electricity, are war crimes. Cutting off men, women, children of water, electricity and heating with winter coming — these are acts of pure terror. And we have to call it as such,” von der Leyen said on Twitter. 

Russia has ramped up its attacks against Ukraine in recent days, striking civilian infrastructure throughout the country in an apparent effort to target the country’s energy grid. 

Ukraine’s grid operator and President Volodymyr Zelensky have urged Ukrainian consumers to conserve energy in order to stave off stabilization blackouts — and warned that strains on the power system will be a significant challenge in the colder, darker winter season ahead.

Zelensky has long forecasted that winter will be difficult for Ukrainian civilians.

According to an update from his office, Zelensky said in a call with President Biden earlier this month that the “recent large-scale damages of critical energy infrastructure pose serious challenges ahead of the upcoming winter and beginning of the heating season.”  

The Ukrainian president held a strategic meeting on security at energy supply facilities Wednesday, according to a Telegram update, to discuss “the necessary steps to eliminate the consequences in the event of a breakdown of the energy system in Ukraine.”

Zelensky noted in the update that Ukraine is working to set up mobile power points and prepare “for various scenarios” of energy issues “no matter what the enemy plans and does.”

Other European nations are facing an energy crisis of their own ahead of the winter as Russia has reduced its natural gas exports to the continent amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Von der Leyen addressed that crisis in an address to the European Parliament Plenary.

“We will back Ukraine for as long as it takes. And we will protect Europeans from the other war that Putin is waging — this is his war on our energy,” she said.

“I know that Europeans are concerned; concerned about inflation; concerned about their energy bills; concerned about the winter. The best response to Putin’s gas blackmail is European solidarity and European unity,” von der Leyen added.  

The European Commission, the European Union’s executive branch, agreed on Tuesday to what von der Leyen called “a strong legislative framework” to combat the energy crisis in Europe, including pooling to jointly purchase gas at the EU level, saving energy overall and sharing gas throughout the continental bloc in a show of solidarity. 

“These three measures — pooling, saving, sharing — will have a positive impact on the prices,” von der Leyen said.