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A new United Nations commission finds that Russian forces used drones to target civilians and undertook population transfers amounting to crimes against humanity.
A recent report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (IICIU) asserts that Russian armed forces committed crimes against humanity and war crimes by systematically using drones to attack civilian populations in Ukraine and by forcibly transferring residents from occupied areas. According to the findings published in May 2025, the commission documented widespread drone strikes on homes, infrastructure and rescue services across regions including Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv, which the body says were not isolated incidents but part of a state-driven pattern.
The report found that drones equipped with live video feeds tracked civilians on foot, in vehicles and even in their homes before dropping munitions. The commission described the attacks as "widespread and systematic" and concluded they were intended to terrorise the population, destroy the fabric of daily life and force people from their territory, behaviour that may also qualify as the crime of forcible transfer of population.
One example cited: in the Kherson region the drone campaign killed nearly 150 people and wounded many hundreds in more than 100 localities between July 2024 and early 2025, the commission says.
The United Nations in Ukraine
The report emphasises that the strikes did not only target individuals but also ambulances, power plants, shops and rescue crews, attacks that left towns "unliveable" and drove large-scale displacement of civilians.
The Russian government has repeatedly denied intention to target civilians, yet the IICIU noted no meaningful steps by Russian authorities to investigate or prevent the conduct. That lack of accountability strengthens the case for international scrutiny and possible legal action.
The release of the report comes amid rising concern that modern drone warfare blurs distinctions between combatants and non-combatants, a serious challenge for international humanitarian law. The commission called for urgent investigation and accountability to prevent further attacks on civilians.
