Video shows Russian drone chasing Ukrainian street vendor in 'human safari' attack
Footage emerges of a remotely-operated drone relentlessly pursuing a 52-year-old vegetable vendor in the Kherson region, highlighting brutal frontline tactics against civilians.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Video captures a Russian drone chasing and detonating near a street vendor in Kherson
- The 52-year-old victim named Yuriy survived with shrapnel wounds and concussion
- Such deployments against civilians are grimly referred to as human safari attacks
- The UN states that publishing execution videos constitutes a war crime
Shocking footage has surfaced showing a drone pursuing a street vendor along a city street in the Kherson region. The video captures the man attempting to distance himself from the hovering device before it tracks him as he desperately runs around a white van. Eventually, the drone dives downward and explodes directly upon impact.
A treating doctor reported that the man narrowly escaped death, sustaining multiple shrapnel wounds, a concussion, and severe psychological trauma. The regional governor of Kherson subsequently released a video featuring the victim, identified as 52-year-old vegetable vendor Yuriy, speaking directly from his hospital bed following the harrowing drone strike.
Yuriy recounted that he and his wife were busy laying out crates of vegetables next to his van when he heard a distinctive buzzing sound overhead. As his wife fled the scene, the drone abruptly shifted its attention toward him. In a desperate bid for survival, he held up heads of garlic directly toward the drone's camera to signal to the remote operator that he was not attempting to film it.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
BBC Verify successfully geolocated the video to a marketplace beside a roundabout located in the Tavriiskyi district of northern Kherson. While the original filmmaker remains unidentified, the earliest public copy was traced to a pro-Ukrainian Instagram account shared on Tuesday morning. These safari attacks have been regularly executed by Russian troops stationed in Kherson, situated only a few miles away from the frontline.
The deployment of FPV drones to hunt individuals in civilian areas represents a chilling evolution of modern warfare tactics, turning commercial technology into psychological terror tools. Beyond the physical devastation, the deliberate recording and online dissemination of these final moments are designed to demoralize entire populations, drawing severe international scrutiny regarding potential violations of the Geneva Conventions.
A United Nations report released in 2025 documented that Russian armed forces have recurrently killed and injured civilians in the area by utilizing drones to target them directly. The footage filmed by these devices prior to detonation is frequently uploaded online, exposing thousands of viewers to the final moments of terrified victims. The UN explicitly stated that posting videos of civilians being killed and injured amounts to the war crime of outrages upon personal dignity. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and continues to deny targeting civilians.
Source: BBC World
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