In a chilling display of alleged brutality, a video circulating online depicts a Russian drone relentlessly pursuing a Ukrainian street vendor in what President Volodymyr Zelensky has labeled a “human safari attack” against civilians. The harrowing footage captures the drone stalking a 52-year-old vegetable seller, Yuriy, through the streets of Kherson before descending and exploding upon impact. Miraculously, the vendor survived, sustaining severe shrapnel wounds, a concussion, and trauma.
The incident, which Zelensky shared on social media, shows Yuriy desperately attempting to evade the hovering device as it shadowed his movements around a white van. His frantic efforts were ultimately futile against the remotely operated weapon. This isn’t an isolated event; such tactics, often dubbed a ‘human safari attack’, have become a horrifying strategy employed by Russian forces to terrorize residents in frontline areas.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the act as a “barbaric war crime,” emphasizing that the “sadist operating this drone knows full well that he is targeting a civilian.” Sybiha described these acts as a “deliberate and systemic Russian strategy” aimed at intimidating the civilian populace, calling for robust international condemnation.
Understanding the Human Safari Attack Tactic
Yuriy, speaking from his hospital bed, recounted the terrifying moments. He and his wife were arranging their produce—tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants—when the distinct buzz of the drone pierced the air. As his wife fled, the drone fixated on him. He even held up garlic heads towards its camera, hoping to signal his civilian status. “It could see that I had tomatoes out,” Yuriy stated, illustrating the drone’s clear focus on an unarmed individual. BBC Verify independently geolocated the video to a market in Kherson’s Tavriiskyi district, confirming the authenticity of the dreadful event.
These so-called ‘human safari attacks’ have been reported extensively in Kherson, a region perilously close to the front line. A 2025 UN report documented numerous instances where Russian armed forces “recurrently killed and injured civilians” using drones in this manner. Alarmingly, the videos filmed by these drones, capturing the final terrifying moments of victims, are frequently disseminated online. This practice, according to the UN, constitutes the war crime of “outrages upon personal dignity.” The international community must uphold the principles of international humanitarian law, which explicitly forbid such heinous acts against non-combatants.
Despite overwhelming evidence and widespread condemnation, Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, continues to deny deliberately targeting civilians. Yet, the footage of Yuriy’s ordeal, and countless others, paints a starkly different picture of the brutal conflict.
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