Russia Targets Ukraine’s Postal Facilities
Every attack on civilian infrastructure is recorded by Ukrainian law enforcement as a war crime.
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Ukraine is campaigning for this phenomenon to be recognised as a new, stand-alone international crime.
Legal experts are considering whether Russia’ repeated strikes on Ukraine’s postal infrastructure could be prosecuted as an international crime.
The damage from such attacks amounts to millions of dollars, with a potentially catastrophic impact on essential services. Every attack on civilian infrastructure is recorded by Ukrainian law enforcement as a war crime.
“Attempts to destroy logistics are efforts to disrupt the country's life support systems and economic resilience. This is a deliberate terrorist act,” a spokesperson from the privately-owned Nova Poshta postal service told IWPR.
Nova Poshta, which controlled roughly 65 per cent of the postal market before the full-scale war, is a civilian company and does not accept or transport weapons or ammunition. However, it continues to deliver medicines and humanitarian aid to front-line regions and remains under repeated attack.
One of its state-of-the-art terminals in the village of Novyi Korotych near Kharkiv, a hub for sorting parcels, has been targeted six times by Russian military strikes since February 2022. Most recently, on January 13, 2026, Russian forces attacked it with two missiles and four strike drones.
The terminal - sprawling across an area equivalent to nearly three soccer fields - opened in December 2020 and can process 20,000 parcels per hour.
The state-owned Ukrposhta postal operator, which controlled around 25 per cent before the full-scale invasion, has also come under attack.
Ukrposhta also provides essential services for people, particularly in frontline and de-occupied communities, delivering pensions, medications, social benefits, parcels and letters from loved ones.
“These attacks are an attempt to shatter the normalcy of daily life and the resilience of communities,” a spokesperson explained.
Both firms handle parcel deliveries across Ukraine and abroad and offer additional services such as money transfers. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion, the companies were designated as critical infrastructure enterprises, granting them the ability to reserve certain employees from mobilisation.
So far, no suspects have been identified in any of the cases.
"The pre-trial investigations into these incidents are ongoing, with measures underway to identify those responsible for the crimes," said Maryna Miroshnychenko, a representative of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
“The post is more than just money,” said Viktor Baranovskyi, director of the company Logistics Workshop. “The declared value of a parcel doesn’t always reflect its true worth. This is profoundly important. I fully understand why the Russians prioritise destroying postal terminals, even as they continue to bomb distribution centres, grocery stores and anything else within reach.”
There are various options being explored to pursue compensation claims and hold those responsible accountable.
Damage from Russian attacks is estimated in the billions of hryvnia and continues to be assessed, Ukrposhta officials said. The company said that, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, 47 branches have been destroyed and 589 facilities damaged. In addition, the company has lost nearly 500 civilian vehicles. It plans to file claims in international courts in coordination with Ukrainian government authorities.
Nova Poshta estimates its own losses at more than 1 billion hryvnia (22.9 million US dollars). Restoring company property destroyed in 2025 alone will require 469 million hryvnia (10.7 million dollars).
Since February 24, 2022, Nova Poshta has compensated customers for the value of destroyed or damaged parcels totalling 147 million hryvnia (3.3 million dollars). Overall, since the invasion began, Russia has destroyed more than 400 Nova Poshta branches and terminals, the company added.
Ukrainian lawyer Ivan Lishchyna served from 2016 to 2021 as Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine and Authorised Representative to the European Court of Human Rights. He now heads the Kyiv office of Fortior Law and explained that there were two avenues for accountability: lawsuits filed with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and appeals to international commercial arbitration.
“Russia recognised the ECHR’s jurisdiction over such lawsuits when it acceded to the European Convention on Human Rights. But it has since withdrawn from the convention, rendering this mechanism ineffective – it functioned only until 2022,” Lishchyna explained.
The option to appeal to international commercial arbitration arises from a 2008 agreement on the encouragement and mutual protection of investments between the governments of Ukraine and Russia. In August 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed legislation terminating the pact. However, its provisions covering investments that fell under the agreement will remain in effect for another ten years.
All successful appeals to international commercial arbitration have specifically involved Crimea. This includes cases brought by Oschadbank, DTEK and PrivatBank. As such, Nova Poshta could potentially recover damages for its destroyed terminal in the city of Sloviansk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, given that Russia has also incorporated Donetsk into its own constitution. However, this principle would not apply to the Kharkiv region as Russia has yet to formalise its claim over the area in any official documents.
The international community is currently working to develop new mechanisms, including the establishment of a Register of Damage for Ukraine. That said, experts remain sceptical about its immediate prospects.
“The Russian Federation did not agree to any funds being written off for such claims. If Russia does not agree that certain seized sovereign assets will be written off, I do not believe this mechanism will work,” Lishchyna concluded.
