Russian drone pilots go on human safari to kill civilians, say residents of Kherson
Increasing evidence is emerging of Russian drone pilots deliberately targeting Ukrainian civilians in the port city of Kherson.
Residents call it the human safari as Russian drones are hunting the city in search of civilians to maim and kill.
Attacks targeting individual pedestrians, cars and cyclists are increasingly common, with Russian soldiers posting their drone footage to social media.
Kherson sits on the Dnipro River, and when Russia invaded three years ago it was the first major Ukrainian city to fall.
It was eventually liberated nine months later, but Russia has kept up pressure on the residents who've remained, hitting the city with artillery, drones and missiles.
Moscow's forces have repeatedly tried to capture a number of islands on the Dnipro River delta, raids that so far the Ukrainians have managed to repel.
Kherson's population has shrunk from 280,000 before the war to just 80, with rumours that Russian drone pilots are using those that are left as target practice.
Across the city, pedestrians, cars and even cyclists have been attacked – actions which are designed to make life unbearable for the city's remaining occupants and force them to leave.
In 2024, just over 2,000 people were injured or killed due to Russian shelling in Kherson – that was 200 more people than in 2023.
Drones are a massive threat and city officials say that in one five-month period Kherson was hit 12,000 times by uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Fifty-four people died, and another 609, including eight children, were injured.
Reports say the Russians are flying surveillance drones high above the city and then sending in smaller first-person view (FPV) drones fitted with mortar bombs, grenades and even bottles of petrol, to drop on civilians.
Alongside the drones, the Russians are also targeting key civilian infrastructure and the staff who work there.
The city's cancer hospital was attacked numerous times with ambulances, staff and even patients targeted by drones.
In December, the facility was destroyed when it was hit by two KAB precision-guided bombs.
Public transport has become another favourite target, with the Russians launching kamikaze drone strikes on the city's buses.
Ukrainian media say Russia is gearing up for a new offensive in southern Ukraine with 4,000 soldiers and marines poised to attack both Zaphorizhzhia and Kherson in an attempt to capture the entirety of both areas, removing them from any future peace negotiations.
For Kherson's remaining residents, daily life is increasingly dangerous with the Russian army using drones to try to inflict terror and drive them from their city.
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