ICC issues warrants for Russian military officials for attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure

March 5 (UPI) -- The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants against two Russian military leaders for attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

Warrants were issued against, Lt. Gen. Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash, who at the time was Commander of Long-Range Aviation for Russia's Aerospace Force, and Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov, who was an Admiral in the Russian Navy at the time.

The ICC said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that Kobylash and Sokolov were responsible for missile strikes carried out against Ukraine's electrical infrastructure including electric power plants and substations between Oct. 10, 2022, and March 9, 2023.

It also found "there are reasonable grounds to believe that alleged strikes were directed against civilian objects and for those installations that may have qualified as military objectives" at the time, adding that the expected damage and harms to civilians would have been "clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage."

The court further found "reasonable grounds" that the suspects had committed the act of "intestinally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health," which is a crime against humanity under the Rome statutes.

During attacks in October 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks led to "massive blackouts" throughout Ukraine, forcing officials to work quickly to repair electrical infrastructure as winter approached.

In March 2022, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, for deporting children from occupied Ukrainian territory.