A graphic video that Ukrainian officials say captures a civilian being pursued by an explosive drone in Kherson has triggered fury in Kyiv, which described the attack as a calculated “hunt” and “safari” against ordinary residents.
The footage, which AFP said could not be immediately verified, shows a man scrambling for cover behind a vehicle as a remotely piloted FPV (first-person view) drone closes in, then detonates its explosive charge.
The victim had been selling vegetables at a street market in the southern city and “suffered bodily injuries but survived”, Yaroslav Shanko, head of the Kherson City Military Administration, said on Telegram.
“I had only set up the umbrellas and began taking the crates out… My wife was there too. We heard a buzzing sound,” the man, a 52-year-old identified as Yuriy, said in a video shared by local authorities.
Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that Yuriy sustained blast trauma, shrapnel wounds and concussion, but that his life is not in danger.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky amplified the video on X, saying it left many people “shocked” and accusing Russia of conducting a drone “safari” on Kherson’s civilians.
“The world must see this. It must see every piece of evidence that Russia has gone mad and that its soldiers take pleasure in killing and abusing civilians,” Mr Zelensky wrote.
Man chased by drone in Kherson city
Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said the episode “requires international condemnation and justice”, describing it on X as a “barbaric Russian war crime”.
“This is a deliberate and systemic Russian strategy … The sadist operating this drone knows full well that he is targeting a civilian,” Mr Sybiga added.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the clip laid bare what he called Russia’s approach, saying it showed a tactic of “pursuing and killing innocent people”.
“The world must watch without looking away. This is how Russia hunts civilians,” Mr Lubinets said.
Five dead, 10 injured in drone strike on Moscow region
As Ukraine and Russia traded further strikes, a drone attack on an industrial zone outside Moscow killed five people and injured 10 others, according to the governor of the region.
Ukraine has carried out long-range strikes targeting civilian infrastructure in Russia and in recent weeks has increased attacks on warehouses belonging to the Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries.
Hundreds of drones are often launched into Russia each night by Ukraine, in retaliation for Russia sending hundreds of its own drones and dozens of missiles at Ukrainian towns and cities.
Yesterday, Russian officials said seven people, including three children, were killed and 40 injured at the Black Sea holiday resort of Gelendzhik, blaming what they described as a deliberate Ukrainian drone attack on civilians.
Drone strikes Black Sea resort killing seven, including children, say Russian officials
There was no immediate response from Ukraine. Both Kyiv and Moscow say they do not intentionally target civilians in the war Russia launched in 2022.
Detailing the latest strike near the Russian capital, Moscow region governor Andrey Vorobyov said early this morning that the drone attack sparked multiple fires in the Novoselki industrial zone.
“According to preliminary information, five people were killed,” he wrote on Telegram, adding that 10 others were wounded.
In northwestern Russia, drones damaged a warehouse near Krasny Bor, injuring one person, Leningrad regional governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said.
Wildberries said the Krasny Bor logistics facility caught fire as a result of the attack.
Another Wildberries warehouse was also hit in a Ukrainian drone strike in the rural area of Emmaus, about 180km northwest of Moscow, regional governor Vitaly Korolyov said.
Read more: Latest Ukraine stories
In Ukraine, Russian strikes killed two children and an elderly woman in Sumy in the country’s northeast, according to the head of the regional military administration.
“Two children and an elderly woman were killed in Russian (guided aerial bomb) strikes on Sumy tonight,” Oleg Grygorov said on Telegram.
“The girls were 5 and 10 years old. The children’s bodies were recovered from under the rubble of their house.”
At least three people killed in Ukraine
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Mr Grygorov said six guided aerial bombs hit civilian infrastructure in the city, striking both residential and non-residential buildings.
Separately, an attack on the southern port city of Mykolaiv killed an 89-year-old woman, according to Georgy Reshetilov, head of the region’s military administration.
Russia launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022 and has repeatedly attacked its neighbour, including from the Crimean peninsula.
Ukraine’s front lines changed little in July, with Ukrainian forces largely slowing Russia’s momentum, according to AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War.
