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See the full story · 1 sourcesLone pedestrians are seen through a shattered storefront window in Kherson, Ukraine. Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Russian drones target civilians in Kherson, escalating violence in the region.
In July, 26 people were killed by Russian drones. Hundreds more were injured.
Kherson residents say they live in fear as the city is under constant drone threat from Russian forces.
The shaky video that has horrified viewers around the world lasts just over 30 seconds.
It shows an exploding drone — small enough to fit in the palm of the hand and loaded with explosives — circling just meters above a vegetable seller's market stall in an area near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
The distinctive buzzing of the aircraft is audible throughout the short video. Costing maybe only a few hundred euros , one-way attack drones like this are controlled by pilots using onboard cameras that provide a first-person view.
The Ukrainian vendor immediately recognizes the danger. He takes cover behind a white van parked beside his stall, constantly looking up at the threat above.
Like a predator stalking its prey, the drone circles, chasing him around the vehicle before suddenly diving toward him. It explodes as it hits the ground beside the van.
Today, many were shocked by yet another video of the drone “safari” Russians are carrying out against civilians in Kherson. A Russian drone deliberately hunted down a man selling vegetables and detonated right next to him. The Russians even admitted to the crime, showing zero… pic.twitter.com/uGjC7esFwR
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 4, 2026
The vendor miraculously survived the August 4 attack, though he suffered multiple shrapnel wounds to his arms, legs, and back, as well as a concussion.
The name of the man in the video is Yuriy. He is 52 years old and lives in neighboring Mykolaiv. He regularly travels to Kherson with his wife to sell vegetables.
"The drone came from somewhere behind the market, from those bushes over there, and it was flying very low," Yuriy said in a video interview from the hospital that was released by Ukrainian authorities. "It is an open area. There is nowhere to go. It is frightening. Really frightening,"
"The Russians have gone mad," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing attacks of this kind by Russian forces as deliberate strikes against civilians in Kherson.
What makes the attack on Yuriy unusual is not necessarily the attack itself, but the fact that it was captured in such detail on video.
WELT's reporting in Kherson since late 2024 — including from some of the worst-affected riverside districts such as Richport — has documented how Russian drone pilots regularly hunt people in the southern Ukrainian city, both soldiers and civilians alike.
Cars, ambulances, and pedestrians are targeted . Anyone can be hit at any time, residents say.
A municipal worker installs anti-drone netting to protect against Russian FPV drones in the "yellow" zone of the frontline city of Kherson, Ukraine. Dmytro Smolienko/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images
In Ukraine, these attacks have become known as Russia's "human safari."
"The Russians mostly attack cars and buses. There have also been many attacks on medical personnel and ambulances," Alexander Tolokonnikov, a spokesman for Kherson's military administration, told WELT.
Using his mobile phone, Tolokonnikov documents the different types of Russian attacks across the city. Since autumn 2024, explosive devices dropped or carried by drones have rained down with increasing frequency.
In recent months, Russian forces have dramatically intensified their drone attacks on civilians in the Kherson region. Residents have described the escalation, and official statistics provided by Tolokonnikov point to the same trend.
In January, four people were killed and 28 were wounded. In February, two were killed and 53 were wounded. March saw seven killed and 66 wounded; April, 12 killed and 147 wounded; May, 11 killed and 201 wounded; and June, 10 killed and 179 wounded.
Then came a dramatic surge in July: 26 people killed and 421 wounded by Russian drone attacks in a single month.
While WELT was unable to independently verify every individual case reported, the broader trend is unmistakable.
"This is clearly a war crime when they fly an explosive-laden drone directly into civilians or into an ambulance," Col. Markus Reisner, an Austrian military officer, told WELT.
Reisner has analyzed numerous videos of the drone attacks and believes there is a clear strategic calculation behind them.
"The Russians are trying in Kherson to drive the population away from the other side of the river and make this area uninhabitable," he said.
It is depopulation carried out with lethal precision.
The drone hunt against civilians has become part of Russia's approach to Kherson since Moscow lost control of the city.
In the first days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops seized central Kherson. The occupation lasted eight months.
During a Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian forces were forced to retreat across the Dnipro River, and Ukraine liberated the city in November 2022.
Since then, Ukrainian and Russian forces have faced each other across the Dnipro, separated in places by only a few kilometers. The city is under fire day and night .
A residential building destroyed by a Russian guided aerial bomb strike is seen in the frontline city of Kherson, Ukraine. Dmytro Smolienko/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Over the past few years, WELT has confirmed multiple drone attacks on civilians in Kherson and spoken with the victims and local authorities.
Video footage of these hunts is sometimes openly displayed on pro-Russian Telegram channels.
The British non-profit Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) had already verified sev...
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