UN finds evidence of war crimes as Ukrainians 'hunted' by Russian drones
People in Kherson are living in fear of Russian drone attacks, as ITV News Correspondent John Ray reports
Russia has committed war crimes by systematically attacking Ukrainian civilians with drones in the port city of Kherson, according to a UN commission.
A report released on Wednesday found Russian forces have launched hundreds of attacks targeting civilians and ambulances, during a months-long pattern of drone strikes on the right bank of the Dnipro river.
Victims of the attacks were hit doing everyday activities, like visiting relatives, on the way to work, waiting for the bus, or travelling by bike, the UN was told.
People reported drones suddenly appearing overhead and chasing them over long distances, before releasing explosives. Elderly people who struggled to escape the drones were also targeted.
One woman said she was walking home with her 54-year-old husband when they heard a drone buzzing above. It immediately dropped an explosive, injuring both of them – but he did not survive.
'My husband died in my arms, bleeding to death,' she said.
Another woman, 50, described how an ambulance had come to her aid after she had been injured by shelling, but a drone strike prevented it from helping her.
A second ambulance arrived – but a drone dropped an explosive in front of it, setting the vehicle alight. The woman said she saw the driver burn to death.
More than 150 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in similar strikes. These acts are war crimes and were committed with the 'primary purpose to spread terror', the report found, with residents left scared to make any movement outdoors.
'Their task is to terrorise us, to break us,' one person told the UN commission.
Another said: 'Drones were attacking everything; minibuses, cars, pedestrians etc… every time you went out of the house you had to check the sky and look out for a buzzing sound, and, in any case, run.'
The commission's chair told ITV News that drone attacks are persisting daily in Kherson
The Kremlin has previously insisted it only launches attacks on Ukraine's military – but Erik Mose, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, told ITV News they had found no evidence of this.
'We are absolutely clear in our conclusions the cases we are addressing are only about civilian populations, and we have not discovered any military targets,' he said.
Kherson was the first major city captured by Russia, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine was launched in 2022.
Ukrainian forces liberated the city later that year, but shelling and strikes on Kherson have continued as both sides continue to exchange fire. A screenshot from a drone video, showing an ambulance targeted by a drone attack. / Credit: UN Human Rights Council
Residents described spending the majority of their time inside, only going outside on cloudy days or to places where they could hide under trees.
Russian forces mostly used commercially drones in the attacks, modified with cameras to track, aim and drop explosives on targets, the report found.
Video feeds taken from the drones have been shared on Russian Telegram channels, showing civilians being injured and killed. The report said the posting of these videos amounts to 'the war crime of outrages on personal dignity'.
One video showed three people being attacked whilst repairing a roof. 'Once again, everything that moves will be destroyed,' the caption read.
Another video caption used smiley face emojis to brag about preventing emergency services from reaching a woman who had been severely injured by a drone.
'Russian Federation soldiers behave like this is a safari,' a doctor in Kherson told the report authors. 'They drop explosives from drones like it is a video game.'
The UN concluded Russia has carried out the war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilians in Kherson, outrages of personal dignity through sharing the footage, and forcible transfer of population as the attacks have forced civilians to leave the area.
It also found Russia has violated international humanitarian law by committing violence to 'spread terror' amongst the population.
The report calls on Russia to immediately end the drone attacks and called for the perpetrators of the war crimes to be held accountable.
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