Russia's drone 'safari' against Ukrainian civilians tops 16,000 documented cases
Photo: A Russian FPV drone (Getty Images)
Today's incident in Kherson was one of more than 2,600 Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians recorded since the start of 2026, according to a statement by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.
Russia terrorizes Kherson with FPV drones
The prosecutor general said that on the morning of August 4, a Russian drone attacked a 52-year-old vendor at an ordinary market in Kherson.
"It circled. It waited. And then it struck. Not a military target. Not equipment. A civilian with no connection to the military. The man suffered blast injuries, a concussion, and shrapnel wounds. He has received medical assistance," Kravchenko said.
The Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office has launched a pre-trial investigation into a suspected war crime, the official added.
Drone 'safari' targeting Ukrainians
Kravchenko said the incident was not an isolated act of cruelty by an individual Russian drone operator.
"Remote killings of civilians using FPV drones have become a method of terror in frontline areas," the prosecutor general said.
Russia is openly disregarding international law. Since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 16,000 criminal cases have been opened over short-range drone attacks targeting civilians.
The highest numbers of such crimes have been recorded in:
- Kherson region,
- Donetsk region,
- Dnipropetrovsk region,
- Sumy region.
According to the statistics:
- 2022–2023: 187 cases;
- 2024: 2,685 cases;
- 2025: 7,787 cases.
"This is neither accidental nor a 'side effect' of hostilities. It is a deliberate tactic employed by Russian perpetrators, and it continues to this day," Kravchenko said.
Since the beginning of 2026, authorities have recorded 2,614 such crimes. Nearly 7,000 people have been affected, including 179 children. A total of 967 people have been killed, among them 10 children, the prosecutor general said.
Who Russia is 'hunting'
According to Kravchenko, the aggressor state has been particularly targeting:
- Medical workers,
- Emergency responders,
- Police officers and journalists,
- Utility workers,
- Humanitarian mission personnel.
Authorities have also documented 43 cases in which Russian drone operators used the so-called "double-tap" tactic.
Ukraine's response
The prosecutor general said that investigators are working to identify:
- The drone operator,
- The military unit involved,
- And the entire chain of command.
"In a number of criminal cases, the names are already known. Accountability for these crimes is inevitable," Kravchenko said.
Earlier, RBC-Ukraine reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy strongly condemned footage showing what has been described as a drone "safari" targeting civilians in Kherson.
As reported, on August 4, a resident of the Mykolaiv region who had traveled to Kherson to sell vegetables narrowly survived a drone attack.
