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Russian Drones Hunting Ukrainian Civilians in Kherson Like a "Safari"
From the Economist:
For six months Russian drones have been attacking civilians daily, chasing cars and pedestrians through the streets of Kherson in what locals call a “safari”.
There have been more than 1,000 drone strikes since last summer, injuring over 500 people and killing 36, according to municipal authorities. Surveillance drones patrol high up; smaller attack drones (known as FPVs, or first-person-view drones), with a flying time of 20-40 minutes, sit on rooftops to conserve battery power. The munitions dropped are often makeshift: mortar shells, grenades, canisters containing shrapnel or darts, or bottles of petrol that ignite.
Russian First Person View (FPV) kamikaze drone with a MON-50 mine containing lethal and maiming shrapnel. (Open source photo)
Shops, schools, clinics, private houses, delivery vans, buses, firetrucks and other first responders are routinely targeted. Several administrative officials have been wounded. In one case, says Roman Mrochko, the head of the military authority in Kherson, a minibus “was almost completely destroyed, but the driver heroically saved the injured people by driving, you could say on scrap metal, to the hospital.” In the riverside neighborhoods where the attacks are concentrated, designated “red zones” by Russians on Telegram channels, life has been throttled. There is no gas, water, electricity or municipal heat. Public transport is suspended. Ambulances wait outside the area for police in armored cars to ferry the wounded to them.
There have been more than 1,000 drone strikes since last summer, injuring over 500 people and killing 36, according to municipal authorities. Surveillance drones patrol high up; smaller attack drones (known as FPVs, or first-person-view drones), with a flying time of 20-40 minutes, sit on rooftops to conserve battery power. The munitions dropped are often makeshift: mortar shells, grenades, canisters containing shrapnel or darts, or bottles of petrol that ignite.
Russian First Person View (FPV) kamikaze drone with a MON-50 mine containing lethal and maiming shrapnel. (Open source photo)
Shops, schools, clinics, private houses, delivery vans, buses, firetrucks and other first responders are routinely targeted. Several administrative officials have been wounded. In one case, says Roman Mrochko, the head of the military authority in Kherson, a minibus “was almost completely destroyed, but the driver heroically saved the injured people by driving, you could say on scrap metal, to the hospital.” In the riverside neighborhoods where the attacks are concentrated, designated “red zones” by Russians on Telegram channels, life has been throttled. There is no gas, water, electricity or municipal heat. Public transport is suspended. Ambulances wait outside the area for police in armored cars to ferry the wounded to them.
-snip-
There is no military value in hunting and killing civilians like this for sport. This is sadism and terrorism. The ICC indicted and issued an international arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, but there is reporting that Donald Trumpf will be sanctioning the ICC to remove warrants against him and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Original source:
https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/01/18/russian-pilots-appear-to-be-hunting-ukrainian-civilians
Archived link:
https://archive.is/0sSRx