How Ukraine’s army is learning to protect civilians 

Ukrainian soldiers help an elderly woman in the town of Irpin on March 6, 2022. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

The Geneva-based organisation Geneva Call is training Ukrainian soldiers in international humanitarian law (IHL), helping them to understand how to protect civilians. Ukraine has pledged to uphold these rules of war.

What must the members of a Ukrainian military unit do when they come across a group of wounded Russian and Ukrainian soldiers? 

“Of course, they are probably tempted to treat Ukrainian soldiers first. But under IHL, the most seriously wounded must be the first in line,” says Harald Mundt, Geneva Call’s security officer in Ukraine. He grapples with exactly these kinds of questions as the organisation trains the Ukrainian army to respect IHL. 

One of IHL’s core principles is that combatants must not deliberately target civilians or civilian infrastructure. “Our overarching principle is the protection of civilians,” Mundt explains. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, various volunteer units have sprung up that now operate under the control of the Ukrainian army. Geneva Call focusses on these groups and has so far reached around 5,000 fighters, including drone pilots. 

An October 2022 report by the UN Human Rights Council’s independent investigation commission found that violations of IHL were committed not only by Russian forces, but in some cases by Ukrainian troops as well. 

As Ukraine pursues membership in the European Union and the transatlantic military alliance NATO, the government is particularly keen to ensure respect for IHL. As stated in a report at the end of 2024, the Ukrainian defence ministry pledged to train its combatants in IHL. Under the Geneva Convention, the backbone of IHL, member states are obliged to educate both their armed forces and the civilian population about the treaty’s regulations in times of peace and war. 

Protected persons under IHL 

Apart from civilians, wounded soldiers who are no longer able to fight, surrendered combatants, prisoners of war as well as medical personnel are protected under IHL. These groups of people are at the heart of Geneva Call’s training programme. 

“This aspect really brings home the relevance of IHL. Everyone knows they could end up a prisoner of war, and if that happens, they want to be treated correctly,” says Tina Gewis, Geneva Call’s regional director for programme and development in Asia.  

Training of Ukrainian military personnel in international humanitarian law at Geneva Call. Geneva-Cal

Exchanging experience of fear and adrenaline 

“To translate IHL from legal jargon into practical language, our trainings use scenario-based exercises which we have also integrated into an e-learning platform,” Mundt explains. Participants share situations they have lived through and openly talk about the fear, the horror and adrenaline rush on the battlefield – emotions that can sometimes trigger instinctive reactions.  

Geneva Call runs its courses throughout Ukraine. All trainers have military backgrounds; many are veterans of the ongoing war, including some who were wounded and forced to leave the army. “They can share their real-life experience in the courses and understand the challenges soldiers are facing,” says Gewis. 

To widen the scope of its training, Geneva Call has developed e-learning tools and digital platforms which can also be used offline. These allow soldiers on the frontlines to continue their training via an app and its corresponding platform whenever they have time, the organisation says. 

Ukrainian soldiers use a launcher with US Javelin missiles during military exercises in the Donetsk region. (The picture was taken in December 2021, shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine) Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press Service

Drones are transforming warfare  

The use of drones has changed significantly since the start of the war. “In early 2022, drones accounted for less than 10% of the damage done on the battlefield, both to military equipment and human lives,” Mundt says. Now, he adds, the figure is between 60% and 80%.  

“Drones are now capable of autonomously evacuating wounded soldiers from the battlefield,” Mundt explains. Some ground-based drones, which are, for example, mounted on trucks, can lay or remove mines while others are fitted with arms to attack enemy targets. Ukraine is fully engaged in this technological race. 

“Since drones are used on all fronts, Geneva Call offers specialised training for drone pilots,” says Mundt. This is a completely new reality as drones did not exist when IHL was developed. Yet, as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the guardian of IHL, notes, the laws of war apply in all circumstances, regardless of the technology involved. 

But drone warfare has also led to new scenarios, including cases where soldiers surrender to a drone. “IHL states clearly that anyone who signals their intention to surrender must not be attacked,” says ICRC spokesperson Aurélie Lachant. 

There are different types of armed drones, some of which have autonomous features that qualify as autonomous weapons systems (AWS). These include drones that, once activated, can select and strike multiple targets without any human intervention. 

“Surrendering to an AWS is particularly worrying as the system may not reliably recognise signs of surrender,” says Lachant. Autonomous weapons systems that rely on general target profiles and sensor inputs are unable to interpret context or accurately decipher ambiguous gestures, which increases the risk of misinterpreting a sign of surrender. 

According to the ICRC, core principles of IHL include distinguishing between military and civilian targets, prohibiting indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and taking all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. These rules apply to all kinds of weapons. But when it comes to AWS, the ICRC is convinced that new legally binding rules would offer some legal security. “We are concerned that without such rules the further development and use of AWS could lead to practices that undermine the current protection for war victims,” says Lachant. 

Anti-FPV drone nets in the Ukrainian frontline city of Kherson. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

More precise targeting, but no extra protection of civilians 

These new fibre-optic controlled drones are immune to interference. First-person-view drones (FPV) are remotely controlled and deployed on both sides of the frontlines. It is these cutting-edge drones that have helped to make them a dominant weapon in the war in Ukraine. 

“The Ukrainians are very interested in training their drone pilots in IHL as these drones are equipped with cameras,” says Mundt. When a drone pilot strikes a target, the entire approach is recorded on video and saved in a central database. This makes it easier to hold drone pilots accountable for any violations of IHL. 

“Innovations in targeting may have improved the precision of the strikes, but they have not increased protection of civilians,” the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in an April 2025 reportExternal link. According to the report, most civilian casualties were a result of Russian strikes in areas under Ukrainian government control. 

Edited by Benjamin von Wyl, Adapted from German by Billi Bierling/gw