Russia has been targeting civilians living near the front line in Ukraine with drones, driving them from their homes and forcing thousands of people to flee entire areas - a crime against humanity, a United Nations (UN) report said today, Reuters reported.
A report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine describes civilians being chased by camera drones and then attacked with incendiary bombs or explosives as they tried to find shelter.
"These attacks were committed as part of a coordinated policy aimed at expelling civilians from these territories and constitute a crime against humanity — the forcible transfer of a population," the 17-page report, which will be presented to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly this week, said.
The findings are based on interviews with 226 people, including victims, witnesses, aid workers and local authorities, as well as hundreds of verified online videos.
The attacks described in the report took place in three areas of southern Ukraine, close to the front line and across the Dnieper River, facing Russian forces, over a period of more than a year.
Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians in Ukraine, even though its forces have killed thousands since the start of a full-scale invasion three and a half years ago. Ukraine has also targeted civilian infrastructure in Russia and in Russian-controlled territories, but on a much smaller scale, according to Reuters.
A woman from Kherson was followed by a drone in August 2024 while parking her car, then attacked and wounded as she tried to take shelter in a garage, the report said. Two more drones appeared the same day and hit her house — which she then abandoned.
Drone attacks have led to a sharp decline in population in some areas, the report says, leaving only the elderly and disabled in some places.
"There is no doubt that the operators of these drones acted with intent. They are truly persecuting human beings, whether they are in their gardens, homes or on the street," Erik Mose, the commission's chairman, told Reuters.
Some of the survivors interviewed by UN investigators said they felt "like prey", and Mose said the perpetrators themselves used the term in drone videos posted online.
Even firefighters, medics and other rescue workers were targeted, depriving local residents of emergency services precisely where they are needed most, the report said.
The UN commission said in May that such attacks constituted a crime against humanity — murder. But in this report, it also states that they constituted forced displacement of the population and that they occurred over a wider area of over 300 kilometers.
The report also documents that Russian authorities coordinated actions to deport or relocate civilians from the Zaporozhye region, a region under their control, which, it is alleged, also constitutes a war crime.
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