Russian Drone Campaign out to Annihilate Parts of Ukraine

By Ihor N. Stelmach

United Nations human rights investigators have concluded that Russian military action is committing two war crimes against humanity in Ukraine: murder and forced relocation of population and deportations and transfers of civilians from Russian occupied regions, some of whom were tortured.

This is part of a deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilians in a lethal drone strike offensive with a goal of depopulating large areas of the country.

The UN inquiry focused on Russian drone strikes in a nearly 200 mile region on the Dnipro River’s right bank in southern Ukraine, including areas of the Kherson, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk provinces. The UN report was based on a large number of video evidence and more than 200 interviews with Ukrainian citizens, concluding that Moscow was guilty of systematically coordinated actions meant to push Ukrainians out of their homes.

Russian military drone pilots in southern Ukraine were deemed to have regularly chosen individual Ukrainian civilians together with public transportation, automobiles, private homes and private infrastructure in a concerted effort to create a permanent atmosphere of terror. Some two hundred Ukrainian civilians have reportedly lost their lives in such drone attacks since July 2024, with thousands more suffering injuries. Many of the targeted areas in southern Ukraine are currently uninhabited.

The UN inquiry specified many instances of Russian attacks on first responders, bombing of fire rescue teams and ambulances trying to provide emergency assistance following prior strikes. The local population now lives fearing death from the skies as an everyday fact of life and call the non-stop Russian drone attacks a human hunting expedition.

The drones utilized by the Russian armed forces in this bombing crusade feature video cameras permitting operators to meticulously pick out and track victims, substantiating the intentional and determined essence of the killings. The UN report confirmed that the types of drones used in these attacks are furnished with live streaming cameras that can zero in on specific targets, making clear the perpetrators’ intent.

The objective was further emphasized by the common practice of posting gruesome video footage online extolling the successful drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians. These posts are usually backed with sinister language and admonishments for the remaining Ukrainian residents to flee their homes. Russian brigades like to release videos of drone-eye views of Ukrainians being killed which can subsequently be posted online by affiliates of the Russian army as a way of supplementing the threat.

The new UN finding underlines the large degree and methodical nature of Russia’s war crimes against Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s attempts to displace the civilian population in the Kherson, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk provinces are only one aspect of a broader Kremlin plan to make much of Ukraine uninhabitable. This annihilation strategy is designed to spark an anti-government sense within the Ukrainian populace and pressure Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government to surrender, while concurrently resulting in new legions of Ukrainian refugees and allowing for further Russian progress on the frontlines.

Along with the human hunting expedition in southern regions of Ukraine near the battlefields, Moscow has relentlessly pursued a nationwide bombing campaign of civilian infrastructure with a goal of denying Ukrainians heat, electricity and running water. These attacks are part of a perpetual airstrike offensive that intensifies yearly prior to winter when Russia seeks to weaponized below zero temperatures and freeze the Ukrainian population.

Since the start of 2025, Russia has stepped up its terror bombings of residential districts and civilian targeting of hospitals and schools in Ukrainian cities. This creates an atmosphere of fear and has resulted in several mass casualty attacks including a ballistic missile attack on Palm Sunday churchgoers in Sumy and the bombing of a children’s playground in Kryvyi Rih. The first nine months of the current year has seen civilian casualties jump by 31 percent year-to-year because of the increased Russian drone and missile attacks.

In another inquiry carried out earlier in the year, UN human rights investigators concluded that Russia has committed crimes against humanity abusing the civilian population in occupied Ukrainian territories. A March 2025 report found that the Kremlin’s extensive initiative of illegal detentions and mass deportations in areas under Moscow’s control was “perpetrated pursuant to a coordinated state policy and amounts to crimes against humanity.”

These holdings by the UN completely invalidate Russia’s denials of targeting Ukrainian civilians. Formidable proof, recognized by United Nations investigators, unequivocally shows that Russia is busy in systematic and centrally coordinated efforts to attack Ukraine’s civilian population. This completely disproves the Kremlin’s frequent assertions that their army never purposely conducts strikes on non-military objects and respects the human rights of civilians.

Russia’s use of drones to conduct a human hunting expedition in southern Ukraine adds another chapter to the Kremlin’s long history of war crimes against civilians. The UN inquiry has officially deemed this deadly drone campaign as a crime against humanity. Putin’s commitment yo target Ukraine’s civilian population in this integrated manner is a stark reminder that his invasion is not only an endeavor to destroy Ukraine as a nation, but it also is an attack on the rudimentary elements of international law.