KHERSON, Ukraine — When Elena Khorlova leaves home or travels around the city outside the house southern Ukrainian city of Khersonshe fears she has become a target. She believes that Russian drones she could be waiting on the roof, along the road, or aiming at her car.
To protect themselves and their two daughters, the girls stay home while she remains vigilant, sometimes walking home at night on dark roads without headlights to avoid being noticed.
After experiencing occupationRefusing to cooperate with Russian forces and hiding from them, Khorlova, like many other residents, found that even after her city was liberated in 2022 the test is not over.
Kherson was one of the first places where Russian forces began using short-range first-person view (FPV) drones against civilians. The drones are equipped with live cameras that allow operators to see and select targets in real time. This tactic later spread over 300 kilometers (185 mi) along the right bank of the Dnieper, through the Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson and Nikolaev regions.
The UN's independent international commission of inquiry into Ukraine says the attacks leave no doubt about their intentions. In an October report, the commission said the attacks repeatedly killed and wounded civilians, destroyed homes and forced thousands to flee, and concluded they constituted crimes against humanity such as murder and forced displacement.
“We live in hope that one day this will finally end,” Khorlova said, her voice shaking. “What is important for us is either a ceasefire or moving the front line further. Then it would be easier for us.”
Gorlova lives in Komyshany, a village near Kherson and just 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Dnieper River, where the level of intense attacks has remained the same despite Ukrainian troops. liberation of the city from Russian occupation in November 2022—about nine months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion on February 24 of that year.
But the war did not end there. Instead, it has entered a phase in which the area has effectively become what locals and military officials call a “human safari,” describing it as a testing ground where people are often the target of drone attacks.
Horlova says FPVs often land on rooftops when their batteries are low and then wait.
“When people, cars or even cyclists appear, the drone suddenly takes off and drops explosives,” she said. “It’s gotten to the point where they’re even thrown onto animals—cows, goats.”
She believes that the hunt for civilians is carried out as “revenge” for the celebrations that broke out during the liberation of Kherson.
The report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said the attacks spread terror among civilians and violated their right to life and other fundamental human rights. Investigators determined that the strikes were carried out by Russian units on the occupied left bank of the Dnieper, and identified specific drone units, their operators and commanders. They also noted that Russian Telegram channels regularly share videos of attacks, often with mocking captions and threats of more.
The UN commission said it had examined Russian claims that Ukrainian forces had attacked civilians in occupied territories with drones, unable to complete an investigation because they lacked access to the territory, could not ensure the safety of witnesses and received no answers from Russian authorities.
Interceptions obtained by The Associated Press from Marine Electronic Warfare Battalion 310 show Russian FPV drones appear to be targeting vehicles. The video shows the drones flying low over roads and locking onto moving or parked vehicles (often pickup trucks, supply vehicles, sedans and even clearly marked ambulances) before diving to strike.
The commander of the 310th Battalion, which protects the skies over 470 kilometers (nearly 300 miles) of southern Ukraine, including Kherson, says at least 300 drones fly toward the city every day. In October alone, the number of drones flying over Kherson amounted to 9 thousand.
“This area is like a training ground,” said battalion commander Dmitry Lyashok, a 16-year military veteran and one of Ukraine’s early electronic warfare pioneers. “They are bringing new Russian crews here to gain experience before sending them elsewhere.” The AP could not independently verify this claim.
Despite the huge number of drones (this figure does not include other weapons such as artillery and glide bombs), his forces manage to neutralize more than 90%, he said.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, short-range drone attacks have become the leading cause of civilian casualties near the front lines. Local authorities say more than 200 civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded in three southern regions since July 2024, with the majority of victims being men. About 3,000 houses were damaged or destroyed.
During a surprise visit to Kherson in November, Angelina Jolie described the constant threat from above as a “strong presence.”
“There was a moment where we had to stop and wait for a drone to fly overhead,” she wrote on Instagram. “I was in protective gear and for me it only lasted a couple of days. Families here live with this every single day.”
At one of Kherson's main hospitals treating drone victims, 70-year-old Natalia Naumova is recovering from a strike by a Shahed drone, which carries heavier explosives than FPV drones, which left her with a blast injury to her left leg on October 20.
According to her, the strike occurred at night when she was waiting at the school in the village of Inzhenerne, where she was temporarily sheltered, for an evacuation bus that was supposed to arrive the next morning.
“There were so many drones flying above us,” she said, adding that she rarely left her house even after its windows were broken and boarded up. “People survive there, not live. I never thought that such a tragedy would happen to me.”
Dr. Evgeniy Kharan, the hospital's deputy chief physician, says injuries from drone strikes range from amputations to fatal wounds.
“It's just hunting people. There's no other name for it,” he said.
Patients injured in Russian attacks, including drone strikes, are arriving at the hospital every day, he said. Last month alone, it treated 85 inpatients and 105 outpatients with blast injuries from gunfire and drone strikes. It is also the only hospital in the area equipped to treat the most serious cases.
Kharan himself came under fire from an FPV drone on August 26 while driving with his wife from neighboring Nikolaev. Rescuers stopped the car on the highway, warning that there was a drone overhead.
“I approached them from behind. The drone made a circle and on the next pass flew straight into their car – into the driver’s door,” he recalls. Shrapnel pierced the front car, and the one parked behind covered it.
He was admitted to the hospital with a hypertensive crisis and was later treated for a concussion. “Sometimes I still lose words and feel insecure,” he said. “It all happened in less than 10 minutes.”
For residents of Kherson, the experience of occupation and the moment of liberation of the city still determines how they cope with constant drone attacks.
“We held out until liberation – we will last until peace,” he said.
