Russia's military has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in its drone attacks on civilian targets in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, a new United Nations report has found.
The report by Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, issued on May 28, was the latest evidence pointing to possible crimes allegedly committed by Russian civilian or military authorities in Ukraine.
"Russian armed forces have committed the crimes against humanity of murder and the war crimes of attacking civilians, through a months-long pattern of drone attacks targeting civilians on the right bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson Province," the commission report said.
In late 2022, several months after the start of the all-out invasion, Ukrainian forces succeeded in partially pushing Russian troops out of the Kherson region. Russian forces withdrew from the western banks of the Dnieper River, across the river to the east, which is also part of the Kherson region.
Since then, Russian troops have continued to bombard towns and cities on the opposite bank, including the city of Kherson. Ukrainian forces tried in 2023 to establish a bridgehead on the Dnieper’s eastern banks, to push Russian troops further away, but that effort failed.
Nearly 150 civilians have been killed in the drone campaign that the commission said started in the summer of 2024; and hundreds more wounded; many as they were doing their daily routines in and out of their homes. Drone operators used real-time video feeds to track and strike civilians, the report said.
Ambulances, which are protected under international law, have also been targeted.
The Russian attacks "were committed with the primary purpose to spread terror among the civilian population, in violation of international humanitarian law," said the expert panel, which operates under the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The International Criminal Court, which operates independently of the United Nations, has brought war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against President Vladimir Putin and a top Kremlin adviser for overseeing the forcible transfer of tens of thousands of children out of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.
The court has also brought war crimes charges against two top Russian military officers for overseeing a missile and drones strikes on Ukrainian civilian targets such as electricity grids and residential homes.
