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A United Nations commission reported on Monday that Russia has committed crimes against humanity through its drone warfare and the forced removal of civilians in occupied regions during the Ukraine conflict.
The U.N.’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine accused Russia of systematically executing drone strikes aimed at civilians near the front lines, leading to the displacement of residents from Ukrainian-held territories.
The report highlighted allegations that Russian forces frequently targeted civilians in the Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, and Mykolaiv oblasts. It concluded that these attacks were “part of a coordinated policy to drive out civilians from those territories, amounting to the crime against humanity of forcible transfer of population.”
“For over one year, Russian armed forces have been directing drone attacks against a wide range of civilian targets,” the report stated, mentioning individuals, homes, humanitarian distribution points, and vital energy infrastructure. The drone strikes were aimed at creating “a permanent climate of terror” to drive residents from Kherson, according to the New York Times.
Since July 2024, over 200 civilians have been reported killed in the three oblasts, as per the findings.
The UN investigation was based on interviews with 226 individuals and suggested that Russia systematically violated international laws of war, which mandate protection for civilians, including the obligation to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, ensuring proportionality in harm, and taking precautions to minimize civilian damage.
The commission also examined claims of war crimes in occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region, focusing on allegations of forced removals of civilians, which at times involved “various forms of violence — sometimes including torture.”
The report indicated that several civilians were forcibly moved from Russian-occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia to Ukrainian-controlled territories in 2023.
After being accused of “failing to cooperate, engaging in destabilizing activities, or having a pro-Ukrainian stance,” these civilians were reportedly compelled to walk six to nine miles out of Russian-held territory through an “operational area with landmines and trenches,” while hearing “shots and shelling nearby,” the report alleged.
Russia does not acknowledge the U.N. commission or the International Criminal Court, which defines crimes against humanity as acts — including murder, enslavement, deportation, torture, and rape — committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.
The Biden administration in the U.S. has similarly accused Russia of committing crimes against humanity. In 2023, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that officials conducted a “careful analysis of the law and available facts” to reach this conclusion, citing “execution-style killings of Ukrainian men, women, and children; torture of civilians in detention; and the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia.”
“These acts are not random or spontaneous; they are part of the Kremlin’s widespread and systematic attack against Ukraine’s civilian population,” Blinken emphasized.
Ukraine has also been scrutinized for its drone strikes on civilians in Russia and for accusations of engaging in significant sabotage against civilian infrastructure. Germany has pointed to Ukraine following a mysterious explosion that damaged the Nord Stream oil pipelines, with recent arrests related to the attack on European energy infrastructure.
