ICC seeks arrest of 2 Russian officers; Ukraine's drones sink another warship, says Kyiv

Warrants were issued against Sergei Kobylash and Viktor Sokolo

CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, the international criminal court in The Hague issued arrest warrants against two Russian officials on Tuesday accusing them of a missile campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

The arrest warrants were issued for Lt Gen Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash of the Russian armed forces, and Adm Viktor Kinolayevich Sokolov of the Russian navy. They were accused of committing the crime between October 2022 and March 2023. Kobylash was the commander of the Long-Range Aviation of the Aerospace Force. Sokolov was the commander of the Black Sea Fleet at the time of the alleged crimes.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility 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," said the court in a statement.

The court also added that during the time frame, there was an alleged campaign of strikes against electric power plants and sub-stations, it added.

However, Russia does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC.

This is not the first time the ICC has issued arrest warrants against Russian authorities. 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 had rejected the allegations.

Meanwhile, Ukraine on Tuesday claimed that it had launched a successful drone attack on a Russian warship. The intelligence agency said on Telegram that its special unit Group 12 attacked the Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait.

"As a result of a strike by Magura V5 maritime drones, the Russian ship Project 22160 Sergey Kotov sustained damage to the stern, starboard and port sides," it said.

The ship was worth about $65 million, it added.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said that the Russian Black Sea Fleet is a symbol of occupation and it cannot be in the Ukrainian Crimea.

The strike had led to traffic disruptions on the bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland. Highway traffic was also suspended for several hours.

Last month, the Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian landing warship near Crimea in an operation with naval drones that breached the vessel's port side and caused it to sink.