“Human rights defenders document how Russian troops deliberately strike drones”, – WRITE: www.radiosvoboda.org
According to the press service of the human rights organization, the 93-page report “Hunting from above: the use of drones for attacks on civilian population in Kherson” documents how Russian troops deliberately strike drones in civilian population.
These attacks spread terror among civilians and make people be afraid to leave their homes, and also reduce the population of two areas that have become the purpose of attacks in Kherson, human rights activists say.
“Russian drone operators can track their goals through high -resolution video, which leaves almost no doubt that the purpose is to murder, cripple and intimidate civilians,” said Belkis Willie, Deputy Director of Crisis, Conflict and Arms Human Rights. “This is an example of why the international community should support all ways of prosecution of victims of Russian military crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.”
Human Rights Watch reports that human rights activists interviewed 36 people who survived and witnesses from Russian drones in Kherson, and analyzed 83 videos of drones, loaded, often with signatures, on Russian military Telegram channels, as well as video and photos.
Human rights activists emphasize that at least 45 deliberate attacks by drones by Russian troops from June to December 2024 on civilians and civilians, including the medical sphere, in Antonivka and Dniprovsky district of Kherson. And such attacks continue, emphasized in HRW.
“Attacks in Kherson is an striking example of what life is when civilians hunt from above with horrible accuracy,” Wille said. – It is anxious that these illegal attacks can be performed with relatively cheap and commercially accessible drones: Kherson should serve as a harbinger of what the lives of civilians in conflict areas around the world, if no international humanitarian law is ensured. ”
Last month, the Independent International Commission on Investigation of the Situation in Ukraine at the UN published a report on Russian attacks on the de -industrial part of Kherson region. In it, the commission documented the attacks of drones on a civilian population in Kherson and 16 other controlled government of Ukraine of settlements of the region, which extends over 100 kilometers in coastal areas.
According to the commission, since July 2024, Russian shock drones, located on the opposite bank of the Dnieper, “systematically attacked civilians in different circumstances, mainly in open space, when on foot or through transport.” They also attacked ambulances, often without letting them get to the victims, researchers add.
“According to official sources, nearly 150 civilians have been killed and hundreds were injured,” the text said.
The attacks were held in a regular scheme and the same way of action, which indicates their planning, management and organization, the UN.
The Kherson region regularly reports the wounded and killed as a result of Russian attacks, in particular through the discharge of explosives on people from drones.
The Russian leadership denies that during a full -scale war, the Russian army causes purposeful strikes in the civilian infrastructure of cities and villages of Ukraine, killing civilian populations and destroying hospitals, schools, kindergartens, energy and water supply.
Ukrainian authorities and international organizations qualify these strikes as war crimes of the Russian Federation and emphasize that they are purposeful.