Killzone: How Russian Drones Are Devastating the River Dnipro’s Right Bank

Despite the relative simplicity of short-range drones, their accuracy, maneuverability, and speed have turned them into a weapon capable of executing high-precision strikes. At the same time, the results of this study indicate that drones are increasingly used not for selective attacks on military targets but as a tool of arbitrary violence or intentional attacks on civilians.

For human rights defenders and investigators, such drones have created new challenges in proving the intentionality of attacks, as this requires knowledge of the technical features of UAVs with skills in identifying the behavior of drones during a controlled attack and during operator control loss. The report collects these indicators as practical guidelines for investigators and analysts; not as sufficient proof but rather as additional data helping to assess the intentionality of each specific attack more accurately. It also enabled Truth Hounds researchers to carry out additional analysis of recorded incidents and to improve their own approaches to documenting drone attacks.

The study has found that Russian attacks against civilians are systematic and have become a consistent element of Russian forces’ tactics in this territory. The pattern of attacks, including regular attacks against civilians, strikes on civilian vehicles, first responders, medics, and volunteers, indicates that the Russian military disregards the principle of distinction and, in many cases, deliberately targets civilians and civilian facilities.

Analysis of messages from Russian Telegram channels, particularly those related to certain units and military personnel, confirms that such attacks are part of a practice legitimized in Russia’s own military narrative. These channels have designated coastal areas about 2.5 km inland along the Dnipro, which is within the strike area of Russian drones, as a “red zone”. Russian sources have repeatedly emphasized that any transport and individuals spotted by a drone in the red zone will be attacked. This insistence that any movement is perceived as a legitimate target, essentially justifies systematic violations of international humanitarian law. This behavior indicates that the Russians are deliberately turning areas near the frontline into a space with no right to life, where the idea of protecting civilians has lost its force before the Russian military’s imperative to attack without question everything within this territory.

The consequences of numerous attacks on energy facilities, rescue and medical teams, vehicles carrying food for the local population, volunteers, utility workers, public transport, the locals, and their property go beyond the lives of victims and material destruction. They intensify the atmosphere of fear, hinder access to basic services and vital resources, disrupt the logistics of humanitarian assistance, and make daily life unbearable. Ultimately, this causes forced migration and the gradual depletion of communities — the social and economic degradation of territories that are under constant threat.

The fact that the tactics of the Russian forces remain unchanged over a relatively long period despite the information available on massive civilian casualties leads us to the conclusion that these actions constitute a method of terrorizing the civilian population.

As discussed in Section 6, the attacks examined in the study constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law, including repeated violations of the principle of distinction and a failure to take adequate precautionary measures in attack. In addition, the attacks may potentially constitute war crimes, particularly deliberate attacks against civilians and civilian facilities (Art. 8(2)(b)(i-ii) of the Rome Statute) and the crime of terror, found in customary international law. Given their prolonged, systematic, and widespread nature, these actions also may potentially constitute crimes against humanity, including murder and the forcible transfer of population (Art. 7(1)(a) and (7)(1)(d) of the Rome Statute). Short-range drone operators’ real-time control over and live visual feed from their weapons provides a strong indication of their intent in targeting. At the same time, public rhetoric and the inaction of the Russian command indicate that not only the direct perpetrators, but also their commanders should be brought to justice.

The report also examines how drone attacks have forced civilians and local authorities to develop practices to protect themselves from these threats. Many communities have gradually developed their own warning, shelter, and response systems, combining official measures with initiatives by residents themselves. Studying these practices could provide useful guidance for communities that are just beginning to face a similar threat in other armed conflicts where drone use is likely to become more widespread.

The increasing use of short-range drones against civilians requires an immediate response from the global community not only to IHL violations connected with the use of drones against civilians in Ukraine, but also to the very need to develop a technological, regulatory, and security response to the challenges that arise from the transformation of armed conflicts, where unmanned aerial systems have a growing impact on the nature of warfare and threat to the civilian population.