UN report accuses Russia of war crimes in drone warfare and forcible transfer of civilians

By Catherine Nicholls, CNN

(CNN) — A new report from the United Nations accuses Russia of committing crimes against humanity by attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure with drones, as well as committing war crimes through the forcible transfer of people.

Drone attacks on civilians in areas along the front line of Russia’s war with Ukraine amount to the crime against humanity of murder, the report says. Russia also committed war crimes by intentionally attacking civilians and civilian targets, according to the report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.

More than 200 civilians have been killed in the southern Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv since July 2024, the report says, citing local authorities. Over 2,000 civilians were injured in these areas in the same time frame, it says.

Throughout the war, Russia has repeatedly denied accusations of targeting civilians. CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment on the latest UN report.

‘Rendering civilian life unbearable’

The drone attacks investigated by the commission regularly targeted civilian homes and infrastructure such as hospitals, humanitarian distribution points, power facilities and a school, according to the UN report. These strikes were “intentional and part of a coordinated policy to drive civilians out of those territories,” the commission found.

The attacks have “spread terror among the population and have rendered civilian life unbearable,” it concluded. People have fled the areas where attacks were most prevalent, the report says, leaving some places “almost entirely vacated.”

In some cases, only people with limited mobility, the elderly, caregivers and those with no means to leave have stayed behind, the report says.

The commission did not accuse any individuals of responsibility for the crimes it documented but blamed them generally on the “Russian armed forces” or “Russian authorities.”

CNN has reported on countless drone strikes on civilians in Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Over the past month, the northern Ukrainian regions of Chernihiv and Sumy have frequently come under attack, leaving many people without power as temperatures get colder.

In August, a wave of airstrikes damaged a key bridge between Kherson’s island, Korabel, and the main city, sparking a widespread effort to evacuate the estimated 1,800 Ukrainian civilians who still lived there.

Natalya, a resident of Antonivka in Kherson who asked to be identified only by her first name for safety reasons, told CNN last October that it was impossible to leave her house because of the drone attacks in her suburb. “It’s like a safari on us,” she said of the drone strikes.

Those interviewed in the UN report described being surveilled, followed and even chased by drones while going about their everyday lives.

“Victims and witnesses stated that at the time when drones hit their houses, they were engaged in ordinary activities such as spending time in their yards, gardening, caring for their animals, disposing of trash, or parking their vehicles,” the report says.

Forcible transfer of civilians

Russia has also committed war crimes by unlawfully deporting civilians from areas of Ukraine it has occupied, including Zaporizhzhia oblast in the southeast of the country, the commission of inquiry found.

Often, these deportations were carried out with very short or no notice, giving people no opportunity to pack or speak to their families before being forcibly transported, the report says.

In 2022 and 2023, a number of civilian adults were forcibly transferred out of Russian-occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia to territories under Ukrainian control, according to the report.

Accused of “failing to cooperate, carrying out activities considered as destabilizing, or having a pro-Ukrainian position,” they were made to walk between 10 and 15 kilometers (roughly 6.2 miles to 9.3 miles) out of Russian-held territory through an “operational area with landmines and trenches” in it, “while hearing shots and shelling nearby,” the report says. Some civilians went missing following the deportations, it says.

Before people were forcibly transferred or deported, “arrests, detentions, various forms of violence – sometimes including torture – searches (and) confiscations of documents and property” took place, the commission found.

Moscow has long been accused of forcibly transferring Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. These transfers have largely been into Russia.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for allegedly directing the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, a war crime. At the time, the Kremlin denounced the ICC’s action as “outrageous and unacceptable,” saying that Russia does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court.

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