Independent United Nations investigators have accused Russia of conducting systematic drone strikes against civilians in southern Ukraine, driving mass displacement and leaving entire communities along the Dnipro River uninhabitable.
In a new report, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said drone attacks in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions were part of a deliberate campaign of terror, targeting not only homes but also emergency responders and public infrastructure.
“Local authorities reported a sharp decrease in population as a consequence of the drone attacks, and that some areas have been almost entirely vacated,” the report said. Those left behind were mainly the elderly and poor.
The commission found that Russian forces had targeted firefighters, medical workers, and utility repair crews, often preventing them from carrying out rescue operations. It said entire neighbourhoods were burned to the ground and essential services destroyed.
“Electricity, gas, and water supplies have been decimated, rendering many communities uninhabitable,” the investigators wrote.
The report documented how civilians were pursued over long distances by drones in Kherson, describing a pattern of attacks on non-combatants that constituted war crimes under international law.
It also detailed the forced deportation of Ukrainians from Russian-occupied parts of the southern Zaporizhzhia region, with several hundred people moved first to Ukrainian-held territory and later relocated to Georgia between 2024 and 2025.
The commission interviewed more than 200 witnesses but said Russia had refused to grant access to territories under its control despite multiple formal requests.
