Two Russian Iskander missiles were seized on Monday as a deadly attack left seven civilians dead and 88 injured in Pokrovsk, a city in Donetsk, Ukraine. A restaurant, a hotel, and surrounding homes were destroyed in the assault, marking another grim episode that underscores calls for accountability for war crimes in Ukraine. European Commissioner Didier Reynders described the ongoing investigations and warned that those responsible would be prosecuted, with the EU continuing to support the Ukrainian Prosecutor General in gathering evidence and setting up a compensation register for victims. The EU also signaled its intent to sustain European police missions that help verify crimes committed on Russian soil, reinforcing a framework for accountability.
Among the efforts cited is a continuity plan for European police missions aiding Ukraine in confirming battlefield crimes committed by the Russian Federation. A specialized team, including officers and civil guards from Spain, has collected evidence that is already in the hands of Ukrainian authorities.
Interrogations Among the Remains
Perhaps the memories of the Police Support Team that Spain sent to Ukraine linger—long, dark nights in the Kyiv region, the tense hours spent near bomb shelters, and the strain of bearing witness to fear and loss. Yet what endures is the data and the reconstructed narratives these specialists assemble. They are documenting ten Russian attack scenarios. Each scenario involved repeated bombardments, with drones or missiles targeting key sites over weeks.
Destruction of electrical and heating infrastructure has a profound impact, the mission commander notes. Even when personnel continued to operate, morale among residents suffered as daily life was disrupted.
The mission focuses on investigating the destruction of critical infrastructure. Teams have examined the ruins of substations, power plants, and deteriorating residential areas.
Russia has been targeting cogeneration plants, boilers, and high voltage towers since winter, aiming to leave civilians in darkness and cold. Such actions are treated as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions.
More often than not, Spanish teams found themselves not only under fire but also observing the collateral damage to nearby homes, shops, and offices. A missile intended for a power facility sometimes struck a nearby building instead, creating a cascade of destruction.
A case in Vyshhorod, north of Kyiv, illustrated the pattern: a strike aimed at critical infrastructure destroyed nearby housing, resulting in casualties and long-term hardship for families. The UN notes a cumulative civilian toll that runs into the tens of thousands.
sad scenes
“The aim of these attacks was to inflict suffering on the public,” notes the EPA officer. The team watched events unfold live, leaving behind colleagues in Ukraine who continue the work. In Kyiv and the surrounding oblasts, the damage to infrastructure is staggering, with estimates from the Kyiv School of Economics placing the cost well into the tens of billions of euros.
Following studies in Kharkiv, focus shifted to the Kyiv region where artillery pressure and volatile security conditions persist. Forensic experts, aided by GAR and Ukrainian security colleagues, documented the impact with 3D crime-scene modeling and weapons identification.
Two senior field experts from intelligence and information services led the team, ensuring that every detail could be mapped and understood. The aim was to document the full chain of damage without exposing personnel to undue risk.
In their operations, the Spaniards pursued three main tasks: forensic support to determine causes of death, 3D modeling of crime scenes with scanners and drones, and identification of explosives and weapons banned by TEDAX specialists. The second objective quickly became the central focus.
Earlier visits to Ukrainian morgues revealed how limited capacity was and how rapidly bodies could overwhelm facilities. In one location, daily autopsies reached the limit, underscoring the scale of the tragedy.
Nighttime bombardments are grueling. Sirens echo like a chilling reminder of past wars, and an alert system on phones adds to the tension. In shelters, people endure long waits, often with limited electricity or heating. Yet resilience shines through as neighbors share vegetables and strangers offer help, a small humanity amid devastation.
These memories linger—the sounds of distant explosions, the cold air of basements, and the sight of makeshift hospitals and morgues. Yet the mission continues, driven by a commitment to uncover truth and restore some measure of safety for those who suffered.
damage control
At a gathering in Warsaw, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin highlighted the vast number of war-crime cases in the ledger. The multinational Advisory Group on Heinous Crimes, which includes the EU, the United States, and the United Kingdom, assists the Ukrainian office in collecting evidence for future prosecutions and in interviewing vulnerable victims and witnesses, including children and survivors of gender-based violence.
An important part of the process is assessing damage to critical infrastructure. A Kiev School of Economics study from May estimates that damages to public facilities, roads, and industrial sites total around 134.8 billion euros. A significant portion of that figure accounts for destroyed or damaged homes, with energy facilities commanding a large share of the losses. These figures form the basis of a plan to seek restitution from those responsible, a collaboration among Ukrainian authorities and allied organizations.