How Russian drones targeting civilians are turning one Ukrainian city into a ‘human safari’

KHERSON, Ukraine — When Olena Horlova leaves her home or drives across town outside of Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, she fears she will be a target. She thinks Russian drones could be waiting on a roof, along the road or targeting her car.

To protect herself and her two daughters, the girls stay indoors and she remains vigilant – sometimes returning home at night on dark roads, without headlights so as not to be seen.

After experiencing occupation, refusing to cooperate with Russian forces and going into hiding, Horlova, like so many other residents, discovered that even after the liberation of her city in 2022, the ordeal did not end.

Kherson was one of the first places where Russian forces began using short-range, first-person view, or FPV, drones against civilians. The drones are equipped with live streaming cameras that allow operators to view and select their targets in real time. The tactic then extended more than 300 kilometers (185 miles) along the right bank of the Dnipro River, into the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.

The independent United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says the attacks leave little doubt about their intent. In an October report, the commission said the attacks repeatedly killed and injured civilians, destroyed homes and forced thousands to flee, concluding that they constitute 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 to us is a ceasefire or a move away from the front line. Then it would be easier for us.”

Horlova lives in Komyshany, a village just outside Kherson and just 4 kilometers (2½ miles) from the Dnipro River, where the level of intense attacks has remained the same, despite Ukrainian forces retaking the town from Russian occupation in November 2022 – around nine months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24 of that year.

But the war did not end there. Instead, it has entered a phase in which the area has effectively become what locals and the military call a “human safari”, describing it as a testing ground where people are often targets of drone attacks.

Horlova says FPVs often land on rooftops when their batteries are low, then wait.

“When people, cars or even a cyclist appear, the drone suddenly takes off and releases the explosive,” she explained. “It’s gotten to the point where they even release them on animals – cows, goats.”

She believes that civilians are being hunted down as “revenge” for the celebrations that broke out during the liberation of Kherson.

The report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said the attacks sowed 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 regularly share videos of the attacks, often with mocking captions and additional threats.

The UN commission said it examined Russian claims that Ukrainian forces launched drone attacks against civilians in occupied areas, but was unable to conclude its investigation because it did not have access to the territory, could not ensure the safety of witnesses and had not received responses from Russian authorities.

Intercepts obtained by The Associated Press from the 310th Separate Maritime Electronic Warfare Battalion show Russian FPV drones appearing to chase vehicles. Videos capture drones flying low over roads and locking onto moving or parked cars – often clearly marked pickup trucks, supply vehicles, sedans and even ambulances – before diving for a strike.

The commander of the 310th battalion, which protects the skies over 470 kilometers of southern Ukraine, including Kherson, says at least 300 drones fly into the city every day. In October alone, 9,000 drones flew over Kherson.

“This area is like a training ground,” said battalion commander Dmytro Liashok, a 16-year military veteran and one of Ukraine’s first electronic warfare pioneers. “They are bringing new Russian crews here to gain experience before sending them elsewhere.” The AP could not independently verify this claim.

Despite the large number of drones – a figure that excludes other types of weapons like artillery and glide bombs – his forces manage to neutralize more than 90% of them, he said.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, short-range drone attacks have become the main cause of civilian casualties near the front line. Local authorities say that since July 2024, more than 200 civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 injured in three southern regions, with most of the victims being men. Nearly 3,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

During a surprise visit to Kherson in November, Angelina Jolie described the constant air threat as “a strong presence.”

“There was a point where we had to pause and wait for a drone to fly over,” she wrote on Instagram. “I wore protective equipment, and for me it only lasted a few days. Families here live with this every day.”

At one of Kherson’s main hospitals treating drone victims, Nataliia Naumova, 70, is recovering after a strike from a Shahed drone, which carries a heavier explosive than FPV drones, left her with an explosion injury to her left leg on October 20.

She said the strike took place overnight as she waited at a school in the village of Inzhenerne, where she had been temporarily housed, for an evacuation bus due to arrive the next morning.

“There were so many drones flying over us,” she said, adding that she rarely left her house, even after the windows were broken and closed. “People there survive, they don’t live. I never thought such a tragedy would happen to me.”

Dr. Yevhen Haran, the hospital’s deputy medical chief, says injuries from drone strikes range from amputation to life-threatening injuries.

“It’s just chasing people away. There’s no other name for it,” he said.

He says patients injured in Russian attacks, including drone strikes, arrive at the hospital every day. Last month alone, the organization treated 85 inpatients and 105 outpatients with blast injuries, all caused by bombings and drone strikes. It is also the only hospital in the region equipped to handle the most serious cases.

Haran himself was targeted by FPV drone fire on August 26 while driving from nearby Mykolaiv with his wife. Emergency responders stopped their car on the highway, warning that a drone was overhead.

“I stopped behind them. The drone circled and, on the next pass, flew straight into their vehicle, the driver’s door,” he recalls. Shrapnel tore through the car in front, while his own, parked behind, protected him.

He arrived at the hospital with a high blood pressure crisis and was later treated for a concussion. “Sometimes I still lose my words and feel unsettled,” he said. “It all happened in less than 10 minutes.”

For Kherson residents, the experience of occupation and the timing of the city’s liberation still shapes how they endure constant drone attacks.

“We held out until liberation – we will also hold out until peace,” he said.