June 25 — The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sergey Shoigu, former Russia’s Defence Minister, and Valery Gerasimov, a leading Russian general, for “alleged international crimes committed from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023” in Ukraine.   

The Hague suspects both Shoigu and Gerasimov of war crimes of directing attacks at civilian objects, causing “excessive incidental harm” to civilians or damage to civilian objects, and crimes against humanity done in Ukraine. During the defined time frame, Russia conducted many attacks against numerous electric power plants and substations. 

ICC judges found that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged strikes were directed against civilian objects, and for those installations that may have qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, the expected incidental civilian harm and damage would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage.” 

Previously, ICC issued warrants to another two Russian high-ranking military figures for the same crimes, attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure in 2022–2023 years. 

Sergey Shoigu was dismissed from Russia’s Defense Minister position in May. Putin replaced him with Andrey Belousov, Russia’s former economy minister.

The first massive Russian strike on Ukraine’s energy objects was conducted on October 10, 2022, striking Kyiv and major cities all over the country, including Kharkiv. 

As of 2024, Russia’s campaign against Ukraine’s power infrastructure cost the country $10 billion in damage. In the Kharkiv Oblast, Russia destroyed or damaged all energy infrastructure during March, with the region having to borrow power from other Ukraine regions. 

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