How Russian drones targeting civilians are turning one Ukrainian city into a ‘human safari’
When Olena Horlova leaves home or drives through town outside the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, she fears that she’s a target. She believes that Russian drones could be waiting on a rooftop, along the road or aiming for her car.
To protect herself and her two daughters, the girls stay indoors, and she stays alert — sometimes returning home at night along dark roads without headlights so as not to be seen.
After living through the occupation, refusing to cooperate with Russian forces and hiding from them, Horlova, like so many other residents, found that even after her town was liberated in 2022, the ordeal didn’t end.
Kherson was among the first places where Russian forces began using short-range, first-person view, or FPV, drones against civilians. The drones are equipped with livestreaming cameras that let operators see and select their targets in real time. The tactic later spread more than 300 kilometers (185 miles) along the right bank of the Dnipro River, across the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
The United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says the attacks leave little doubt about their intent. In an October report, the commission said that the attacks have repeatedly killed and wounded civilians, destroyed homes and forced thousands to flee, concluding that they amount to the crimes against humanity of murder and forcible transfer.
“We live with the hope that one day this will finally end,” Horlova said, her voice trembling. “What matters for us is a cease-fire, or for the front line to be pushed further away. Then it would be easier for us.”
Horlova lives in Komyshany, a village just outside Kherson and only 4 kilometers (2½ miles) from the Dnipro River, where the level of intense attacks has remained the same, despite Ukrainian forces retaking the city from Russian occupation in November 2022 — about nine months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24 of that year.
But the war didn’t end there. Instead, it shifted into a phase in which the area has effectively become what locals and the military term a “human safari,” describing it as a testing ground where people are often the target of drone attacks.
Horlova says that FPVs often land on rooftops when their batteries run low and then wait out.
“When people, cars or even a cyclist appear, the drone suddenly lifts off and drops the explosive,” she said. “It’s gotten to the point where they even drop them on animals — cows, goats.”
She believes that civilians are hunted as “revenge” for the celebrations that broke out when Kherson was liberated.
The report from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says the attacks have spread terror among civilians and violated their right to life and other fundamental human rights. Investigators found that Russian units on the occupied left bank of the Dnipro carried out the strikes and identified specific drone units, operators and commanders involved. They also noted that Russian Telegram channels routinely share videos of the attacks, often with mocking captions and threats of more.
The UN commission said that it examined Russian claims that Ukrainian forces had launched drone attacks on civilians in occupied areas, unable to conclude its investigation because it lacked access to the territory, couldn’t ensure witness safety and didn’t receive answers from Russian authorities.
Interceptions obtained by The Associated Press from the 310th Separate Marine Electronic Warfare Battalion show Russian FPV drones that appear to be hunting for vehicles. The videos capture drones flying low over roads and locking onto moving or parked cars — often pickups, supply vehicles, sedans, and even clearly marked ambulances — before diving for a strike.
