Russia committed war crimes against civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson region, UN concludes

Russian armed forces have been “systematically” committing crimes against humanity by hunting civilians using remote-controlled drones, the U.N.’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said.

According to a report published Wednesday, since July 2024 Russian forces have periodically killed and injured Ukraine’s civilians living in an area stretching over 100 kilometers along the right bank of the Dnipro River, including the city of Kherson and its surroundings in southern Ukraine.

The drone attacks have been widespread, systematic, and “conducted as part of a coordinated state policy,” the report said.

“The attacks followed a regular pattern and the same modus operandi, demonstrating that they were planned, directed, and organized … There is no information suggesting that Russian military and civilian authorities have taken any steps to prevent or stop the commission of the crimes,” the U.N. commission said, adding that nearly 150 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured in the mentioned area.

Victims were mostly men, but also women and children. Civilians were targeted in various circumstances, often as they stepped out to do daily activities, whether on foot or in vehicles, the commission added.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry denounced Russia’s “shameful tactic of terror against civilians that must be ended.”

Russia captured Kherson in March 2022, shortly after the start of President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale war on Ukraine. The Ukrainian army recaptured Kherson eight months later, but not before Russia had conducted sham referendums in which, the Kremlin claimed, the majority of the Kherson population supported the region joining Russia.

However, international journalists who got unauthorized access to Kherson before the Ukrainian government, showed Kherson residents expressing joy as they were celebrating liberation from the Russians. Later, Kherson residents gave testimonies on Russia’s systematic torture of locals during the occupation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its army from Kherson and the region for him to agree to a ceasefire.