When technology falls into the wrong hands, it becomes a weapon of fear, not just of war. According to a chilling new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), Russia’s use of drones in its ongoing war against Ukraine is not limited to military surveillance or strategic targeting. Instead, the drones are being used to actively hunt and terrorize civilians, particularly in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson. In doing so, Russia is not only violating international humanitarian law but systematically turning human lives into targets in a cruel and calculated game.
Weaponizing the Skies: The Rise of Drone Warfare
Modern warfare has long embraced drones as instruments of military precision and low-risk engagement. However, in Ukraine, these unmanned aerial vehicles are becoming tools of indiscriminate terror. HRW’s report reveals that from June to December 2024, at least 45 deliberate drone attacks were carried out on civilian targets—including homes, healthcare facilities, and streets. The result: at least 30 deaths and over 500 injuries in Kherson alone.
What makes these attacks particularly insidious is their method. Russia is not deploying highly sophisticated military-grade drones alone but also widely available commercial models, including those manufactured by DJI and Autel in China, and Sudoplatov, a Russian group that claims to be a volunteer organisation. These quadcopters come equipped with high-resolution video feeds, enabling operators to closely observe their targets before striking, leaving little doubt about intent.
Human Safaris: Deliberate Targeting and a Culture of Cruelty
Perhaps the most disturbing element of the HRW report is its confirmation of what some Kherson residents have grimly referred to as “human safaris.” According to testimonies, Russian drone operators have used these machines not just to strike strategic locations, but to track and pursue individuals—men, women, and even children—in open areas.
This form of deliberate targeting speaks volumes about the culture of cruelty that appears to underpin parts of the Russian military’s drone operations. The phrase “reckless or deliberate” used by HRW to describe Russia’s conduct doesn’t just point to legal negligence—it implicates a strategy of psychological warfare designed to sow fear, paralysis, and hopelessness among Ukrainian civilians. The drones aren’t just weapons; they are messengers of terror, constantly hovering above, often silent until they strike.
A Call for Accountability and Global Attention
Belkis Wille, a director at HRW focusing on arms and conflict, put it plainly: this is a call to the international community to act. The footage and testimonies collected by HRW, including 83 drone videos sourced from pro-Russian Telegram channels, make the case for war crimes charges compelling and urgent. These attacks are not isolated incidents—they form a pattern of behavior consistent with crimes against humanity.
The January 2025 report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission underscores this by stating that drone strikes accounted for 70 percent of civilian casualties in Kherson. That statistic should stop us in our tracks. This is not collateral damage. This is terror by design.
The world has tools for accountability: the International Criminal Court, national jurisdictions with universal jurisdiction, and international sanctions regimes. But political will is often slow to act, particularly when powerful states are involved. What’s needed now is not just condemnation, but coordinated legal and diplomatic efforts to ensure Russia’s leadership and military planners are held responsible.
When Civilians Become the Battlefield
The tragedy of this war is not just in its length or brutality but in its shifting moral center. Civilians—protected under the Geneva Conventions—have become the battlefield itself. The use of drones to pursue individuals erases the line between combatants and non-combatants. It turns walking down the street into a life-risking act. It turns technology meant for innovation into an aerial predator.
This is not just Ukraine’s problem—it is a test of our shared humanity and global resolve. How we respond, legally, politically, and morally, will shape not only the outcome of this war but the conduct of future ones. If Russia faces no consequences for turning drones into tools of terror, we may be staring down a future where no civilian, anywhere, is ever truly safe from the eyes above.
Russia’s actions, if left unchecked, will normalize a new low in modern warfare—one where anonymity meets cruelty, and machines become the preferred weapon against the powerless. We must act—not just to support Ukraine, but to uphold the very essence of international law and human dignity.
