Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine 'war crimes,' says EU
European Commission chief stresses importance of 'European solidarity, unity' amid energy crisis facing EU countries
Smoke rises from a destroyed building after Russian attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine on October 17, 2022.
ISTANBUL
The president of the European Commission on Wednesday accused Moscow of war crimes in Ukraine, calling the Russian military's deeds "acts of pure terror."
"Russian attacks against civilian infrastructure, especially electricity, are war crimes," Ursula von der Leyen said while addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
"Targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure, with a clear aim to cut off men, women, children of water, electricity, and heating, with the winter coming -- these are acts of pure terror. And we have to call it as such," von der Leyen added.
Underlining that the European Commission proposed a strong legal package to address the energy crisis, she said the best response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's "gas black mail" would be "European solidarity and European unity."
The package involves pooling resources for joint gas purchases at the EU level, as well as energy conservation, EU-wide gas sharing, and price mechanisms to address spikes, according to Leyen.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Tuesday that 30% of his country's power stations had been destroyed since Oct. 10, causing massive blackouts across the nation.
