Constant Russian drone strikes on civilians are making Ukrainian-held areas along the lower Dnipro River in the south of the country increasingly uninhabitable, independent UN human rights investigators have said.
“Local authorities reported a sharp decrease of the population as a consequence of the drone attacks; and that some areas have been almost entirely vacated,” the independent UN human rights said
Those left behind are mainly elderly and impoverished residents, the report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found.
The UN experts said the Russian attacks across the Dnipro River, which forms a 300-kilometre front line in the south of Ukraine were “systematic” and aimed primarily at spreading “terror” among civilians.
Targets included firefighters, ambulances and repair crews, the report said, while homes were deliberately set ablaze and efforts to extinguish fires were obstructed.
The destruction of electricity, gas and water supplies was said to have rendered many communities uninhabitable.
Civilians were frequently “chased” by Russian drones over “long distances” in the Kherson region, according to the report, which outlined a litany of such attacks on ordinary Ukrainians that it said amounted to war crimes.
The report also condemned the forced deportation of Ukrainian citizens, mainly from Russian-occupied parts of the southern Zaporizhzhya region.
Several hundred people were initially taken to Ukrainian-controlled areas and later, in 2024 and 2025, transferred to Georgia, the commission said.
More than 200 witnesses were interviewed for the report.
The authors noted that Moscow denied them access to Russian-controlled territories inspite repeated requests.
