UN report: Russia deliberately hits cars and buses with civilians with deadly FPVs

The Russians are deliberately targeting civilians with "lethal" short-range FPV drones, and these incidents have increased over the past year. This is stated in the report of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

The use of such UAVs in the frontline areas of Ukraine has increased over the past year due to technological advances and increased production rates, the report says.

"...These drones have become the leading cause of civilian deaths and injuries in Ukraine, and in some months have even outperformed more powerful weapons such as missiles, artillery, and bombs. The vast majority of casualties occurred as a result of Russian attacks on government-controlled territory," the report says .

It is emphasized that such FPVs are equipped with cameras that allow drone operators to select specific targets, including moving vehicles, and attack them with exceptional accuracy.

However, Russian operators used these weapons against civilians who did not show any signs of direct participation in hostilities, the UN emphasized.

"The documented casualties include civilians on bicycles, in private cars, on regular public buses, in ambulances, while delivering humanitarian aid or conducting evacuations, walking in the open air and outside their residential property," the report says.

The UN mission has documented and analyzed the circumstances of these attacks and concluded that "some incidents may amount to a deliberate attack on civilians, which is a war crime.".

"In addition to causing deaths and injuries, the attacks have exacerbated an already critical humanitarian situation. Civil servants, medical personnel <…> could not safely pass through the affected villages, meaning that civilians had no access to basic services, humanitarian aid and medical care," the report says.

The UN mission emphasized that this has affected a wide range of human rights, including the right to life, food and an adequate standard of living, as well as health care, with older people and people with disabilities disproportionately affected as they tend to remain in the frontline areas.

"Decisive measures are needed to protect civilians in the frontline areas. Deliberate attacks on civilians using short-range drones must stop. Violations of international humanitarian law must be investigated and those responsible brought to justice," the report says .

• The UN said that the number of civilian casualties in the first five months of 2025 was almost 50% higher than in the same period last year. The reason for this is Russia's deliberate tactics of hitting Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles.