GENEVA / VIENNA - Russian armed forces have targeted civilians and a wide array of civilian objects using short-range drones in localities stretching over 300 kilometres along the right bank of the Dnipro River, said the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine in its latest update to the Human Rights Council.
In May this year, the Commission concluded that such drone attacks in Kherson Province were widespread and systematic and amounted to crimes against humanity of murder. The evidence now shows that similar drone attacks also target civilians and civilian objects in Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv Provinces.
In all three provinces, the circumstances of the attacks show the perpetrators' intention to kill, harm and destroy. Russian armed forces have been carrying out attacks from positions on the left bank of the Dnipro River with drones that allow real time observation and tracking of targets. They pursued the victims, sometimes over long distances, and dropped explosives on them, causing death and injuries. Drones have also struck ambulances and other emergency services, preventing them from reaching the victims.
These attacks have a devastating impact on the civilian population living in the affected areas. They have caused extensive damage and destruction, leaving entire localities unliveable. Essential services and shops have been unable to operate. The terror instilled in the population and the ensuing coercive environment have compelled thousands to flee. A woman who left Antonivka settlement, a particularly targeted locality, stated: "The buses stopped coming, the shops closed, drones were flying all around - before there were a few drones each day, but by then there were three, four, five drones every hour. It was not possible to go out."
Russian Telegram channels run by the perpetrators themselves, or by persons close to the Russian drone units involved, have disseminated hundreds of videos of civilians being killed or injured, which amounts to the war crime of outrages upon dignity. They have also posted threatening texts announcing further attacks and exhorting the population to leave.
In the Commission's view, the conduct of the Russian armed forces may amount to the crime against humanity of forcible transfer of population. The Commission will return to this issue in its report to the General Assembly in October.
The Commission has been unable to conclude its investigation into allegations made by Russian authorities of drone attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces, due to lack of access to the territory, concerns relating to the safety of witnesses, and in the absence of response to the Commission's questions addressed to the Russian Federation.
Another issue being investigated by the Commission is a pattern of deportations and transfers of adult civilians from the areas of Zaporizhzhia Province that are under Russian control.
The investigations into short-range drone attacks as well as deportations and transfers reveal coordinated and organized efforts on the part of Russian authorities to further capture territory, and to consolidate their grip over areas they already control in Ukraine, while compelling local populations to leave.
"Three and a half years of armed conflict in Ukraine continue to have a devastating impact on the civilian population. The violations and corresponding crimes documented have inflicted unspeakable suffering and hardship on the affected populations," said the Chair of the Commission, Erik Møse. Recurrent attacks have gradually destroyed entire localities. Many of the victims suffer from the loss of loved ones or of their houses and livelihoods and feel that they have "lost everything". Closer to the frontlines, older persons have been particularly affected, as many are unable to flee, making them vulnerable to risks of attacks.
