Russia using drone strikes to drive Ukrainian civilians from their homes, UN report finds

Russia’s use of drones to target civilian areas near the front line in an attempt to “drive Ukrainians out of their homes” amounts to a crime against humanity, a UN report published on Monday has found.

The International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said Russian drone strikes had struck a “wide range of civilian targets” across a 300-km-long stretch of the right bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine’s Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolayiv regions.

The “systematically coordinated” attacks, which target individuals, residential buildings, aid distribution points and energy facilities, are aimed at forcing Ukrainian civilians to flee their homes and amount to the forcible transfer of population, a crime against humanity, the report said.

According to investigators, Russian forces often targeted first responders by striking the same sites repeatedly, setting vehicles and buildings on fire to spread “terror among the civilian population”.

Reuters reported that the UN inquiry also described civilians who were “chased over long distances by drones with mounted cameras” and targeted with fire bombs or explosives as they tried to reach for shelter.

"There can be no doubt about these drone operators acting with intent", the commission’s chair Erik Mose told Reuters. "They are really pursuing human beings, be they in their gardens, at home or in the street”.

To compile the report, investigators analysed over 500 pieces of video footage and interviewed 226 Ukrainian citizens, many of whom described life in the affected areas as “unbearable”.

The commission also looked into Russian claims of Ukrainian drone strikes on civilians in Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, but said it was “unable to draw any conclusions” due to restricted access, witness safety concerns and a lack of response from Russian authorities.

Russia has ramped up its drone strikes on Ukraine in recent months as it seeks to demoralise its population ahead of winter amid faltering diplomatic efforts to end the war.

In September, The New York Times reported that Russia had launched 34,000 attack drones and decoys at Ukrainian cities this year — almost nine times as many as it deployed in the same period in 2024, and not accounting for the smaller tactical drones used by Russian forces on the front line.