Ukraine accuses Russia of 'human safari' after drone chases and wounds vegetable seller in Kherson
Ukrainian police released video of a Russian FPV drone chasing a 52-year-old vegetable seller around his stall in Kherson before detonating. The man survived with shrapnel wounds; Kyiv called it a 'barbaric war crime' and part of a systematic terror campaign.
The attack
On 4 August 2026, at around 06:30, a Russian FPV drone targeted a 52-year-old vegetable seller at a market in the Tavriiskyi district of Kherson, southern Ukraine. Video released by Ukrainian police shows the drone hovering near the man's stall for about 25 seconds before pursuing him as he ran around his vehicle. The man, identified as Yuriy, tried to show the operator he was carrying only vegetables, but the drone followed and detonated its explosive charge close to him. He survived with shrapnel wounds, blast trauma, and a concussion. The governor of Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, posted a video of Yuriy in a hospital bed.
Victim's account
Yuriy described the attack to authorities. He said he and his wife had just begun setting out vegetables when they heard a buzzing sound. He attempted to signal that he was unarmed, then ran.
I started running, bumped into the vehicle. I ended up in the drone's path, it collided with me and I just fell.
He called his survival "a miracle".
Official condemnation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted sharply on X, accusing Russian soldiers of taking pleasure in killing and mistreating civilians.
Every single day, the residents of Kherson face these Russian 'safaris'.
Zelensky urged Ukraine's supporters to increase pressure on Moscow, arguing that without dismantling Russia's capacity for aggression,
it is simply impossible to imagine that the world can coexist with this evil.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the attack a "barbaric war crime" and said it was part of a "deliberate and systemic Russian strategy".
This barbaric Russian war crime in Kherson requires international condemnation and justice, but thousands of similar crimes never come to light.
Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets described the victim as an "unarmed market seller" and accused the Russian army of "hunting civilians".
A pattern of terror
The incident is the latest in a series of deliberate drone attacks on civilians in Kherson since mid-2024. According to Yaroslav Shanko, head of the city's military administration, 29 people were killed and 395 wounded in such attacks in July 2026 alone. In 2025, a UN commission concluded that Russian drone strikes on civilians in the Kherson region are "large-scale, systematic and part of a state-coordinated policy", amounting to crimes against humanity. The city, which had a pre-war population of about 280,000, now holds roughly 50,000 residents. In July 2025, a drone entered a yard and exploded near a children's playground, killing a 14-month-old baby. Local media and residents have described the practice as a "human safari", with Kherson used as a training ground for Russian drone operators to practice targeting moving individuals.
- Deliberate short-range drone attacks on civilians begin in Kherson and along the Dnieper River
- A drone enters a yard and kills a 14-month-old baby in Kherson
- UN commission finds Russian drone attacks on civilians in Kherson are systematic and constitute crimes against humanity
- 29 people killed and 395 wounded in drone attacks in Kherson, per city military administration
- Russian FPV drone chases and wounds a 52-year-old vegetable seller at a Kherson market
Broader accusations
Russian authorities regularly accuse Ukraine of similar deliberate attacks on civilians, particularly in the Belgorod border region. On 3 August, Russia said a Ukrainian drone strike killed at least seven people and wounded 40 others on a beach in the Krasnodar region. The mutual accusations point to the intensifying drone warfare on both sides of the front, with civilians increasingly caught in the crossfire.
