The UN accuses Russia of forcing Ukrainians to flee to occupy more territory.

Russia is responsible for the forcible relocation of the Ukrainian population from the territories where the occupation has been established and where it is expanding, a crime that constitutes a crime against humanityThis is the conclusion of a UN international commission of inquiry, which has presented the results of its latest on-site investigations to the Human Rights Council and will submit its full report to the General Assembly in October.

"Three and a half years of armed conflict in Ukraine continue to have a devastating impact on the civilian population. The documented violations and related crimes have inflicted untold suffering and hardship on the affected populations," denounced the commission's chairman, Erik Mose. He added: "The terror instilled in the population has forced thousands to flee." He maintains that, according to the investigations, the drone strikes and deportations "reveal coordinated and organized efforts by the Russian authorities to capture more territory, as well as to consolidate control over the areas they already occupy in Ukraine." Forcing the local population to flee is part of this strategy, according to the official.

The commission found that the Russian armed forces have attacked a wide range of civilian targets with short-range drones in locations stretching more than 300 kilometers along the right bank of the Dnipro River. In May, the same commission had already concluded that widespread attacks against civilians in Kherson province constituted crimes against humanity involving murder. New evidence now shows that similar drone attacks have also targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv provinces.

Will to "kill, harm, and destroy"

The seriousness of the accusations is based on the intention of the perpetrators of the attacks, which, according to this commission, is to "kill, damage, and destroy." How do they justify this? According to investigations, Russian drones observe and track targets in real time. This allows them to pursue victims, sometimes over long distances, and drop explosives to kill or injure them. The drones in question also attacked ambulances and other emergency services, preventing them from reaching the victims.

The impact of these attacks on the affected areas is terrible, according to the commission, and forces the population to flee. The fear of being a victim has left entire towns uninhabited, without basic services or essential businesses. A woman who shared her testimony after leaving her home in Antonivka, a town particularly targeted, stated: "The buses stopped coming, the shops closed, the drones were flying everywhere; before there were a few drones every day, but now there were three, four, five every hour." It was impossible to go outside.

The findings also include images disseminated on Russian Telegram channels by members of the Russian drone units involved, depicting massacres of civilians that, according to the UN, amount to war crimes and outrages against human dignity. Other images have also been recorded with text threatening the civilian population with further attacks and encouraging them to leave the area.