Russia’s deadly “human safari,” hunting civilians with drones in Kherson, Ukraine, is approaching a new milestone, with 10,000 such devices used in attacks since mid-July, according to the U.K. newspaper Financial Times.
Kherson has been hit by small Russian drones more than 9,500 times since the summer, and according to Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin, regional prosecutors and police, this has caused 37 deaths and hundreds of injuries. Newsweek reached out to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for comment via email.
The drone attacks have caused a mass civilian exodus from the port city in Southern Ukraine, as the population of Kherson was once 11 million, but has dropped to 60,000 today.
Locals have begun to refer to Russia’s campaign in Kherson as a “human safari” as people, animals, and vehicles have been targeted by the attacks, 88 of which have been verified by the Centre for Information Resilience. The CIR also found that the Russian drone attacks have hit the neighboring suburb of Antonivka.
Mikhail Alaeddin/Associated Press
The drones used include “first-person view (FPV) drones, Chinese over-the-counter Mavics and sometimes larger Russian military Lancets,” and they often target everyday locations.
FPV drones are ones in which the video stream is transmitted online to a screen or video glasses so that the pilot can see everything the drone camera picks up.
The Mavic drones are produced by the Chinese company DJI and are used by both Ukrainian and Russian forces.
The Russian lancets are suicide drones, also known as “kamikaze drones,” that are “multipurpose weapons capable of autonomously locating and striking a given target,” and have been used by the Russian military in Ukraine since February 2022.
The Russian drones utilized in the attacks are often equipped with petals, which are small antipersonnel mines, a form of ammunition.
With ranges of up to 15 kilometers (approximately nine miles) and flying at 100 kilometers an hour (approximately 62 miles per hour), the Russian drones are often equipped with grenades and improvised explosives. They can also carry incendiary bombs that cause fire once launched and exploded.
Adam Campbell, a CIR investigator, said that drone operators are dropping explosives “on or next to a vehicle just as someone exits it,” and that “this technique is likely being practiced in Kherson to be replicated on the front line.”
CIR investigators have also said that it is possible that Russian units on the right bank of the Dnieper River are using Kherson and Antonivka residents as targets for “live training exercises.”
Prokudin agreed with the CIR investigators’ beliefs regarding Kherson city residents serving as targets, and said that “Russia wants to launch another offensive here,” noting that Russian forces had assembled “300 boats to cross the river.”
In its latest report, CIR identified several incidents where civilians and their vehicles were “likely being targeted” by drone-dropped munitions, in addition to instances where 15 particular individuals were targeted by drone-dropped munitions.
Residents of Kherson have reportedly begun carrying small detectors to notify them when drones are hovering nearby, while others leave the house only at certain times to avoid them.
Common targets include military vehicles, ambulances, police cars, fire trucks, and humanitarian convoys.
An attack in October took place at a crowded central market, and the artillery strike attack resulted in the deaths of at least six individuals and three injuries.
