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UN: Russia's drone attacks in Kherson, Ukraine, constitute war crimes

Politiko 2025-05-29 14:37:56

UN: Russia's drone attacks in Kherson, Ukraine, constitute war crimes

The Russian military has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by attacking civilian targets in Ukraine's southern Kherson region with drones, according to a new United Nations report.

The report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry into Ukraine - published on May 28 - is the latest evidence attesting to possible crimes committed by Russian civilian or military authorities in Ukraine.

"The Russian Armed Forces have committed crimes against humanity through murder and war crimes by attacking civilians, through a pattern of drone attacks that lasted for months and targeted civilians on the right bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson," the commission's report said.

In late 2022, several months after the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces managed to partially push back Russian troops from the Kherson region. Russian forces withdrew from the western banks of the Dnieper River to the east, which is part of the Kherson region.

Since then, Russian troops have continued to bombard towns and villages on the opposite bank, including the city of Kherson. In 2023, Ukrainian forces attempted to establish a foothold on the eastern bank of the Dnieper to push back Russian troops, but this attempt failed.

Nearly 150 civilians have been killed in the drone strike campaign that the commission said began in the summer of 2024; and hundreds more have been injured – many of them while going about their daily business inside or outside their homes. Drone operators used real-time video to track and target civilians, the report said.

Even ambulances, which are protected under international law, have been targeted in these attacks.

The Russian attacks "were carried out with the primary purpose of spreading terror among the civilian population, in violation of international humanitarian law," said the panel of experts, which operates under the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The International Criminal Court, which operates independently of the United Nations, has indicted President Vladimir Putin and a senior Kremlin adviser for war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing the forcible displacement of tens of thousands of children from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

The court has also indicted two senior Russian military officers for war crimes for overseeing missile and drone attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine, such as power grids and homes.

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