Russian forces have used drones to stalk and terrorize civilians near the front lines in Ukraine, forcing thousands to flee their homes in what amounts to a crime against humanity, according to a damning new report by a United Nations inquiry.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, in a 17-page report to be presented to the U.N. General Assembly this week, said Russia deployed drones equipped with cameras and explosives to chase civilians over long distances, targeting them with firebombs and other munitions as they sought shelter.
“These attacks were committed as part of a coordinated policy to drive out civilians from those territories and amount to the crime against humanity of forcible transfer of population,” the report said.
Investigators interviewed 226 people, including victims, witnesses, aid workers, and local authorities, and analyzed hundreds of verified videos from the war zones.
The documented attacks occurred across three regions in southern Ukraine, near the Dnipro River, over a period of more than a year.
One woman from Kherson was reportedly pursued by a drone in August 2024, injured as she fled into her garage, and later saw two more drones strike her home. She abandoned her property soon after, the report noted.
“These drone operators are really pursuing human beings, in their gardens, in their homes, in the streets,” said Erik Mose, the inquiry’s chair, in an interview with Reuters. “There can be no doubt about their intent.”
The inquiry found that the drone campaign had led to a sharp depopulation of front-line areas, with mostly elderly or disabled residents remaining. It said emergency workers, including medics and firefighters, had also been targeted, crippling essential services.
Russia has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians in Ukraine. However, U.N. investigators said the attacks were “systematic and coordinated,” and built upon earlier findings that identified drone strikes as constituting the crime against humanity of murder.
The new report expands the scope of those findings, saying the drone operations covered a 300-kilometer (180-mile) area and included forcible deportations and population transfers from Russian-occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia, actions the commission said amount to war crimes.
Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began more than three and a half years ago, thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed, with U.N. investigators warning that the deliberate pursuit and displacement of civilians marks one of the most disturbing evolutions of the conflict.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
