Russian army systematically kills civilians in Ukraine — findings of independent UN commission
Regular attacks by Russian troops on frontline areas of Ukraine are causing mass deaths, civilian injuries, widespread destruction, and the forced displacement of thousands of people. This is stated in a report published on October 27 by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Violations in Ukraine, presented to the UN General Assembly.
According to the report, Russian troops are deliberately targeting civilians and infrastructure under centralized command. The commission notes that short-range drone attacks carried out by the Russian army have spread to a much larger area than before and have gone beyond the areas identified by the previous investigation in May 2025.
A strip more than 300 kilometers long along the right bank of the Dnieper River in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions was shelled. Experts documented numerous cases of strikes from the left bank of the Dnieper River that were deliberately aimed at civilian targets.
The commission also identified the specific perpetrators of the attacks — UAV units, associated military units, and commanders stationed on the left bank of the river. All of them are part of the Russian Federation’s Dnipro military group.
In addition, the report states that the Russian authorities are systematically deporting and forcibly displacing the civilian population from the temporarily occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia region. The commission qualifies such actions as war crimes.
Russian troops systematically use various types of weapons, including strike drones, missiles, aerial bombs, and multiple launch rocket systems. Often, even Ukrainian State Emergency Service rescuers who arrive at the sites of attacks come under repeated fire.
Despite numerous pieces of evidence, the Russian leadership denies the facts of deliberate strikes on civilian infrastructure, hospitals, schools, kindergartens, energy and water supply facilities.
The Ukrainian authorities and international organizations regard these actions as war crimes committed by the Russian Federation, emphasizing that they are deliberate and systematic in nature.
