How Russians terrorize civilians with drone assaults

KHERSON, Ukraine – The previous 12 months, within the de-occupied Ukrainian territories of the Kherson area, has turn out to be a interval of actual terror from the sky for the civilians. Systematic drone assaults have turn out to be a round the clock phenomenon. In August and September, the Kherson area was attacked by Russian drones at a median of greater than 2,500 per week. In simply the primary seven months of this 12 months, 847 civilians had been affected — 79 of them killed, in accordance with the Regional Army Administration.

The Dnipro district and close by villages are separated from Russian navy positions solely by the Dnipro River. This permits them to constantly shell areas from which Ukrainian forces drove them out in November 2022. Russians started utilizing UAVs (unmanned aerial automobiles) on a mass scale a 12 months in the past, publishing their “hunts” on social media. The United Nations Unbiased Worldwide Fee of Inquiry on Ukraine qualifies this conduct as a “crime in opposition to humanity.”

Hunted from the sky

Sixty-six-year-old Tetiana Karmazina’s home is situated near the river. On March 30, 2025, she went outdoors to search for her canine. She didn’t hear the drone’s engine, however when she reached the closest intersection, she seen it above her.

“It was both on the roof of a home or on a tree — and as quickly as I got here out, it instantly took off. I noticed a purple mild and instantly realized {that a} bomb can be dropped. And that’s precisely what occurred,” recollects Tetiana.

The explosive fell immediately at her ft. Her proper foot was torn off, and her left was badly mangled by shrapnel. Together with her telephone left at residence, she needed to crawl again.

“I in all probability crawled for an hour and a half. The canine got here to me on the gate, didn’t acknowledge me, and began biting my arms. The gate was locked; I couldn’t open it for a very long time.”

Her proper leg was amputated under the knee. She is now making ready for a prosthesis becoming. Earlier than the harm, Tetiana walked 10 kilometers day-after-day — one thing she now enormously misses.

In September 2024, a picture filmed from a drone appeared on a Russian Telegram channel: an individual on a bicycle driving down a rustic highway. The caption acknowledged {that a} Russian operator had recorded a “Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier” earlier than dropping a munition.

Twenty-four-year-old Anastasiia Pavlenko acknowledged herself in it. The lady had by no means served within the Armed Forces — she is a mom of two babies from Antonivka who had missed her bus that day.

“It took off from a roof and began chasing me. I turned my handlebars proper and left. Then it realized there was a ditch on my proper, that means I might now not flip that method. I steered left, and it flew apart, filmed me, after which dropped a munition.”

Anastasiia sustained a extreme blast harm and underwent a number of operations to take away shrapnel. One fragment remained in her leg, forcing her to make use of crutches, and when the ache worsened, a wheelchair. Just lately, medical doctors discovered one other fragment in her lung.

The dimensions and strategies of assaults

Within the first seven months of 2025 alone, Russians used 16,322 strike drones of assorted varieties in opposition to the de-occupied territories of Kherson area. A complete of 847 civilians had been affected, 79 of whom died. Seven hundred sixty-eight individuals had been injured, together with 11 youngsters. In August 2025, the depth elevated sharply — as much as 2,500 drones per week. At evening the drones use thermal imagers. Though Ukrainian forces shoot down 80 per cent of enemy drones, over the previous month and a half, drone assaults have killed 15 individuals and injured 118. Previous to that, within the second half of 2024, 47 residents had been killed and 578 wounded, together with eight youngsters.

Residents describe a double-strike tactic: drones usually arrive in pairs. After one drone drops an explosive on an individual, the second loiters to stop anybody from serving to the wounded. Due to this, emergency companies can’t reply to calls shortly. 

Sixty-five-year-old paramedic Oleksii Alferov is aware of this firsthand. On April 17, 2025, his crew responded to a name for an individual struck by a drone. They positioned the wounded individual within the ambulance and set off for the hospital. That they had pushed roughly 300 meters when an explosion occurred. 

“Most definitely that drone was in ready mode. It was a direct hit on the automobile, into the passenger compartment. The automotive was destroyed, completely ruined,” Oleksii says. The automobile bore clear markings.
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Since de-occupation in November 2022, regional authorities have evacuated greater than 47,000 individuals from Kherson and surrounding districts.

On the finish of August 2025, Russians tried to paralyze the M-14 freeway between Kherson and Mykolaiv, attacking civilian automobiles. Authorities deployed countermeasures, and site visitors resumed, however no one ensures full security. Now, over 10 kilometers of freeway in addition to central streets of the town is roofed by anti-drone nets, which provides restricted safety.

UN findings: crimes in opposition to humanity

Till December 2024, the Kherson regional oncology dispensary operated within the space close to the rover and served 34,000 most cancers sufferers. However from autumn 2024, Russian UAVs started arriving recurrently, searching workers and sufferers. On November 26, 2024, a lab technician was killed. The crew determined to relocate. “Of their Telegram channels the Russians wrote that there have been navy personnel there,” says director Iryna Sokur. “However we by no means had anybody there besides oncology sufferers. And our oncology sufferers are largely aged individuals.”

In Might 2025, the United Nations Unbiased Worldwide Fee of Inquiry on Ukraine revealed a report concluding that Russian armed forces dedicated crimes in opposition to humanity within the type of killings and assaults on civilians with the intent of “spreading terror,” and “forcing 1000’s of individuals to desert their properties.” The report notes that the general public dissemination of video recordings of assaults and threatening texts saying additional strikes elevated public concern, and that the net publication in Russian Telegram channels of footage exhibiting the killing and wounding of civilians constitutes “a conflict crime within the type of an affront to human dignity.”

“I spent two and a half months within the hospital — day-after-day, new victims of drones had been admitted,” says Tetiana Karmazina. “For them that is probably the most thrilling work — to make us break down, to make us beg, in all probability, for our authorities to surrender Kherson. However we won’t break down, we don’t need something, we endure the whole lot from them. And so they strike solely at civilians.” – Rappler.com

This text was ready by The Public Curiosity Journalism Lab inside The Reckoning Venture, an initiative of Ukrainian and worldwide journalists, analysts, and legal professionals. Since March 2022, the crew has been documenting and analyzing conflict crimes dedicated throughout the Russian conflict in opposition to Ukraine.