ICC issues arrest warrants for Russian commanders Kobylash and Sokolov

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for top Russian commanders Sergei Kobylash and Viktor Sokolov over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ICC, based in The Hague, said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects were responsible for “missile strikes carried out by the forces under their command against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023”.

This is the second set of warrants for the arrest of Russian officials related to the war in Ukraine.

In March last year the ICC issued warrants for the arrest of President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on war crimes charges related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. The Kremlin rejects the allegations.

The ICC on Tuesday said the attacks on Ukraine’s electrical grid caused civilian harm and damage that would have been clearly excessive to any expected military advantage.

Ukraine’s prosecutors were already investigating possible war crimes after a winter campaign of air strikes on Ukrainian energy and utilities infrastructure.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, saying its attacks are all intended to reduce Kyiv’s ability to fight.

The Geneva conventions and additional protocols shaped by international courts say that parties involved in a military conflict must distinguish between “civilian objects and military objectives” and that attacks on civilian objects are forbidden.

That seems clear-cut, but some infrastructure owned and used by civilians can also be a military objective if they can make an effective contribution to military action or their destruction offers a definitive military advantage.

Experts have argued civilian power plants or railways could fall into this category.

(Reporting by Bart Meijers, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Alex Richardson, Sharon Singleton and Ros Russell)