Russia's drone ‘safaris' haunt Ukrainians in front-line city
Ukrainian forces liberated 30 percent of the region in November 2022, nine months after Russia's full-scale invasion. Since then, the front line has been at a stalemate; that doesn't mean it's been inactive.
Kherson suffers near-daily attacks from all manner of Russian weapons, artillery and missiles. But armed drones, and their targeting of civilians, are drawing increased attention and horror. On Wednesday, a United Nations commission released a report calling the Russian drone attacks crimes against humanity.
'They are killing ordinary civilian people, just elderly people, children, those who are waiting at the bus stop — they are killing them, they are taking videos of that and they are putting them online on their Telegram channels,' said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration.
'They are calling it a 'safari,' and they are just laughing at it and there is nothing we can do to combat the drones.'
Prokudin spoke to The Hill from the basement of one of Kherson's new municipal workspaces, part of a new city plan to move all essential services — hospitals, schools, government offices — underground. Nine hospitals are underground at the moment, with plans to build another 12.
Kherson is one of five regions Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the United States — and the broader international community — to recognize as sovereign Russian territory as part of any peace deal. President Trump's top envoy for negotiations, Steve Witkoff, has not rejected the possibility outright.
There's a growing recognition in Ukraine that liberating the occupied territories by force is not achievable. While 82 percent of Ukrainians said in 2022 that Ukraine should not give up any of its territories even if it prolongs the war, in March of this year, that number fell to 50 percent.
For Kherson, Russian forces on the other side of the Dnieper River outnumber Ukrainian forces by three times, Prokudin said, speaking through a translator.
'But at the same time, they don't have the strength and ability to turn this manpower into action and retake these territories,' he continued. 'But still, we don't have the manpower and ability to kick them off from our territory.'
Asked about Trump's efforts to achieve a ceasefire, Prokudin said any pause must be used to prepare for a resumption of the war.
'If it happens, we prepare to war,' he said in English.
The population of Kherson has plummeted amid the war. About 150,000 people live in the de-occupied region, down from a prewar level of 500,000.
Other measures the city is taking to protect remaining residents include bomb shelters spread out among the sidewalks, particularly at gathering points such as bus stops and around the train station.
Zarina Zabrisky is an American journalist working in Ukraine, who moved to Kherson to report and produce a documentary on the drone attacks.
Zabrisky spoke to The Hill over Zoom from the U.S., but she said she spends about 70 percent of her time in Kherson. She said she fell in love with the city while reporting there after Ukrainian forces liberated the right bank of the river.
'The people are unbelievable, they are very down to earth,' she said, describing locals as passionate, artistic, and blunt.
'If they don't like something, they tell you right to your face. If they like you or love you, they suffocate you in an embrace.'
Writing for the Byline Times and the Euromaidan Press, Zabrisky said when she first started reporting the drone attacks in July 2024, editors were in disbelief.
'At that point, only the publication I worked for would believe me. Other editors would say, 'That's not possible.' It took me until October to get it out to other publications.'
Stories about the 'human safaris' appeared in The Kyiv Independent at that time, and in December, the Financial Times reported on the civilian 'target practice.'
Prokudin said that there are between 2,000 and 3,000 drone attacks per week across the region under Ukrainian control, an area of roughly 390 square miles.
The U.N. commission documented drone attacks against civilians in the city of Kherson and 16 other localities stretching over 60 miles in riverfront areas under Ukrainian control.
Almost 150 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured, the commission wrote.
Radio and electrical defense systems help to combat about 80 percent of the drones, but Russia is constantly innovating, changing the frequencies to bypass the defenses, Prokudin said.
Other defense measures include shooting at the drones with small guns and shotguns, and putting up netting to try to disrupt their flight. Some of the drones drop explosives, while others fly kamikaze missions, crashing into their target and exploding.
The daily terror makes Kherson one of the most difficult places to live, which the commission report said is Russia's intention.
Prokudin said most of the people who stay in the region are elderly, with no desire to move or start a new life as a refugee. Any young people are likely working for the government.
Among them is 23-year-old Victoria Maryshchuk, who works in the press office for the military administration of the city. She spent nearly nine months under Russian occupation following Putin's initial full-scale invasion in February 2022.
She's had to move apartments five times over nearly two years because of Russian shelling. But she decided it was important to stick around.
'After the liberation, I realized something important: A city only lives if its people stay,' she said.
'If everyone leaves, Kherson will become an empty target — even a ghost. And I understand that's exactly what the Russians want as they shell us, to make us run so they can try to come back.'
Maryshchuk can relate to those still living under Russian occupation, and she hopes they can eventually feel the joy of being liberated.
'It's just really difficult to explain to people how was it, but it's just a feeling that you are not free,' she said of life under Russia's control.
In September 2022, when Russia carried out a referendum in the occupied territories — that was dismissed internationally as illegal and carried out under duress — Maryshchuk said she and her family hid in their home to avoid being forced to vote.
'I remember very well that feeling of fear,' she said. 'We knew their referendum was illegal, and we believed that Ukraine would liberate us anyway — so we simply waited.'
Two months later, Ukrainian forces retook the territory. But the threat of Russia remains at the doorstep.
'If they stay on the left bank of Kherson region, one day or another they will shell Kherson again,' she said. 'So of course we want to be liberated, all our region be liberated, developed, and we will celebrate our victory.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Post
14 minutes ago
- New York Post
Democrats self-own bragging about inflation shows the left has learned NOTHING
Everybody makes mistakes. Not everyone makes the same mistakes over and over again. Last week, the geniuses in charge of maintaining the Democratic Party's social media picked at a fresh wound — and showed, again, exactly why it lost the 2024 election. The blue team's official X account shared a line chart showing the change in the price of various groceries — meat, dairy, produce, etc. — over time, and asserting that 'prices are higher today than they were on [sic] July 2024.' 'Trump's America,' read the caption. The problem? The last part of the line barely went up. The blue team's official X account, with the caption 'Trump's America,' shared a chart showing the change in the price of various groceries, asserting that 'prices are higher today than they were on [sic] July 2024.' Eric Daugherty, /X And what it actually showed was a massive increase in prices between 2021 and 2024. In other words: over the course of former President Joe Biden's White House tenure. 'I would just advise Democrats not to post about inflation given their track record,' suggested conservative influencer A.G. Hamilton. 'Might save them the embarrassment of having to delete their posts after getting dunked on' — which is exactly what they did. 'This is the gang that couldn't shoot straight!' marveled Fox Business host Stuart Varney. And of course Team Trump got in on the action. The problem with the chart was that it actually showed a massive increase in prices between 2021 and 2024 – when Biden was president. RapidResponse47/X What's notable about the braindead blunder, though, is not the blunder itself. It was that it represented yet another admission, eight and a half months after they surrendered the presidency to Donald Trump for the second time in three election cycles, that the Democrats still haven't made a sincere effort at diagnosing the reasons for their unpopularity — much less addressing them. A new Wall Street Journal poll found that their party continues to suffer as a result — to the point that just 33% of Americans hold a favorable view of it, and 63% view it unfavorably. Both Donald Trump (-7) and the GOP (-11) are also underwater, but may as well be polling as well as ice cream compared to the Democrats. The same holds true of the public's view of various issues; voters still trust the GOP more than the alternative when it comes to the economy, inflation, immigration and foreign policy. If that doesn't wake Democrats up to the provenance of all their political pain, nothing will. The Left has long relied on comforting fallacies to numb the discomfort that accompanies defeat. After 2016, elected Democrats and their media allies insisted that Trump's shocking victory was only possible thanks to Russian meddling. And now, they're laboring under the misimpression that return to power can be attributed to Republicans' superior, but decepting messaging — an almost supernatural ability to compel Americans to believe that which isn't so. If only they could convince the public of the truth, they'd surely prevail. But the cold, hard truth is that it's always been about the substance, stupid — as the unflattering data they so proudly shared last week demonstrates. Kamala Harris was deposited into the dustbin of history because she was the top lieutenant in an administration that had proven a miserable failure long before her boss's implosion last summer. Americans spent the entirety of the Biden years telling pollsters that their lives were demonstrably, palpably worse as a result of historic price hikes. Biden & Co. responded to these pleas for relief by denying the existence of inflation until they couldn't any longer. Then, when they finally did implicitly admit to the effects of the nearly $2 trillion boondoggle they passed in 2021, they slapped the name 'Inflation Reduction Act' on yet another profligate spending bill that every layman in America knew would only compound the problem. There are similar stories to be told about Americans' dissatisfaction with Biden's approach to foreign policy, his abdication of his duty to secure the border, and his championing of a radical social agenda that maintains up is down, left is right, and black is white. Their stubborn refusal to grapple with this incontrovertible truth is also reportedly set to be reflected in an upcoming 2024 autopsy conducted by the DNC. The New York Times reports that it will 'steer clear of the decisions made by the Biden-turned-Harris campaign,' and instead 'focus more on outside groups and super PACs that spent hundreds of millions of dollars aiding the Biden and Harris campaigns through advertising, voter registration drives and turnout efforts.' It's like watching a restaurant serving inedible food invest in new plateware. The gripe has never been with the Democrats' presentation or voters' tastes. It's with the product itself.

USA Today
14 minutes ago
- USA Today
Mike Johnson says Ghislaine Maxwell should serve 'life sentence,' opposes potential pardon
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said he believes Ghislaine Maxwell, a key associate of Jeffrey Epstein currently serving 20 years in prison for conspiring to sexually abuse minors, should face "a life sentence." "If you're asking my opinion, I think 20 years was a pittance," Johnson told NBC's Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press" July 27. "I think she should have a life sentence, at least." His remarks to NBC come as many, including supporters of President Donald Trump, clamor for testimony from Maxwell. Some followers of the case have proposed a pardon in exchange, but Trump told reporters on July 25 he hadn't considered the move. "I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about," the president said. Epstein was charged with sexually trafficking minors and died by suicide while in detention in 2019. Maxwell, his longtime girlfriend, has been accused of recruiting minors for the disgraced financier's predation. Maxwell maintains her innocence and is appealing her 2021 sex-trafficking conviction. Johnson in his interview with NBC reiterated that pardons aren't up to him, telling the outlet, "obviously that's a decision of the president." "I won't get it in front of him," Johnson said. "That's not my lane." But, later in the interview he noted, "It's hard to put into words how evil this was, and that she orchestrated it and was a big part of it." "So, again, not my decision," he added, "but I have great pause about that, as any reasonable person would." The Trump administration for weeks has faced backlash over its handling of Epstein's case. Critics from Democratic lawmakers to prominent Republicans and slices of Trump's voter base accuse the president and other officials of not being transparent with the American people. The speaker has faced his own ongoing Epstein-related criticism, as some House Republicans have zeroed in on the Justice Department's recent review of Epstein's case and are calling for related documents to be released publicly. Democrats in Congress have piled on too. Reps. Ro Khanna, D-California, and Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, introduced a bipartisan measure to force the Trump administration's hand in releasing the federal government's files. Also on "Meet The Press," the pair split on pardoning Maxwell. "That would be up to the president," Massie said. "But if she has information that could help us, then I think she should testify. Let's get that out there. And whatever they need to do to compel that testimony, as long as it's truthful, I would be in favor of." Khanna disagreed, saying Maxwell shouldn't receive a pardon. "Look, I agree with Congressman Massie that she should testify," the California Democrat said. "But she's been indicted twice on perjury. This is why we need the files. This is why we need independent evidence." Contributing: Bart Jansen and Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY


The Hill
14 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump insists Hamas is stealing food amid Gaza hunger crisis
President Trump on Sunday said Hamas is stealing food that was meant for people in Gaza, telling reporters multiple times that goods are being stolen when pressed on the hunger crisis in the region. The president, while sitting next to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry, Scotland, was asked for his response to the images of starving children in Gaza. 'When I see the children and when I see, especially over the last couple of weeks people are stealing the food, they're stealing the money, they're stealing the money for the food. They're stealing weapons, they're stealing everything,' the president said. He added, 'It's a mess, that whole place is a mess. The Gaza strip, you know it was given many years ago so they could have peace. That didn't work out too well.' The Israeli military has reported that there is no proof that the Palestinian militant group had systematically stolen aid. Earlier on Sunday, Israel's military said it will start a 'tactical pause' in fighting in Gaza amid mass starvation concerns. Trump said he spoke recently with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding, 'I talked to him about a lot of things. I talked to him about Iran.' He said the U.S. would send more aid into Gaza and pressed other nations to contribute as well, suggesting that would be part of his conversation with der Leyen. And, he reiterated the claims about Hamas stealing food. 'It's not a U.S. problem, it's an international problem,' Trump said on Gaza. 'If we weren't there. I think people would have starved, frankly. They would have starved, and it's not like they're eating well, but a lot of that food is getting stolen by Hamas. They're stealing the food, they're stealing a lot of things. You ship it in and they steal it, then they sell it,' he said. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also insisted that Hamas has stolen the food on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday and noted that Yechiel Leiter, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., and other Israeli officials told him that Hamas has stolen 'a huge amount' of food since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7, 2023. Trump on Sunday said that the U.S. gave $60 million in aid for Gaza two weeks ago, but said that 'nobody even acknowledged it.' 'Nobody acknowledged it, nobody talks about it, and it makes you feel a little bad when you do that, and no other countries give anything,' he said. He said that Israel has to decide what happens next in the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. 'What's going to happen? I don't know,' Trump said. 'Israel's going to have to make a decision. I know what I'd do but I don't think it's appropriate that I say.' The Trump administration last week said it was leaving Gaza ceasefire talks, blaming Hamas for failing to engage in good faith. Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy for peace missions, said the administration is considering alternative plans to secure the freedom of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the future governance of the territory.