Ukraine: Families of the Kakhovka Dam victims file a complaint to the Human Rights Committee
Accountability & Rule of Law - Ukraine - Advocacy - Strategic Litigation
News Release – 6 June 2026
Ukraine: Families of the Kakhovka Dam victims file a complaint to the Human Rights Committee
Kyiv (LAW) – Today, exactly three years after Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine, Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) and Truth Hounds have filed a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) on behalf of the families of nine people killed as a result of the attack.
“No one warned them, and when the water came, no one came to save them,” says Viktoria, who lost three family members in the flooding caused by the attack, and is now seeking recognition and justice alongside other affected families.
Our evidence and analysis show that Russia violated the right to life of the nine victims, as well as all those killed in the wake of the Dam’s destruction. We hope that our claim, arguing that all killings caused by Russia’s war of aggression violate the right to life, will significantly expand human rights protection in conflict.
“Human rights law can play a vital role in holding Russia accountable and ensuring reparations for victims of its war of aggression” said Daniil Ukhorskiy, LAW Program Manager in Ukraine. “If HRC holds in favour of our clients, this can be historic and expand human rights protection in armed conflict – in Ukraine and everywhere.”
This is the second time LAW and Truth Hounds have brought this argument before the Committee. In 2024, we filed a similar complaint over Russia’s July 2022 missile strike on Vinnytsia, which killed 28 civilians, alleging violations of the victims’ right to life. “With limited accountability mechanisms available, it’s important to use every possibility to ease victims’ harm and provide them with renewed hope.” – says Volodymyr Hryshko, Truth Hounds Senior Legal Counsel.
Ukrainian and Russian authorities confirmed 92 people killed by the Dam’s destruction, but media investigations suggest that hundreds were killed in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky alone. Much of the affected area is still occupied, making it impossible to establish the full death toll. The ongoing war makes it harder to collect testimonies and gather evidence, which also impacted the families’ capacity to seek legal redress.
On top of the human toll, the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam inundated dozens of communities, causing extensive damage to ecosystems. The disaster also severely disrupted the cooling system of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, raising global safety concerns. Yet despite the scale of harm, accountability for destruction remains limited. The scale of the harm in this case makes it a powerful opportunity to challenge this gap.
International human rights law, with its broader and more protective framework, offers a path to justice. What remains is for the Human Rights Committee to apply its own standards to the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam — delivering justice for the affected families and setting a precedent capable of addressing the countless lives lost as a result of wars of aggression.
LAW expresses immense gratitude to its external counsel team in this case: Miles Jackson (University of Oxford), Sophie Ryan (Twenty Essex), Gianna Seglias (Brick Court), and Anna Nagel.
For more information, please contact:
Yuliia Homonets, Communications and Advocacy Coordinator, [email protected], +380668578128 (WhatsApp)
or visit our website: https://legalactionworldwide.org/