KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — When Olena Horlova leaves her home or drives through town outside the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, she fears she is a target. She believes Russian drones could be waiting on a rooftop, along the road or aiming for her car.
To protect herself and her two daughters, the girls stay in the house, and she remains alert—sometimes returning home at night on dark roads without headlights to avoid being seen.
After going through the occupation, refusing to cooperate with Russian forces and hiding from them, Horlova, like many other residents, found that even after her town was liberated in 2022, the ordeal was not over.
Kherson was among the first places where Russian forces began using short-range, first-person-view, or FPV, drones against civilians. The drones are equipped with live feed cameras that allow operators to see and select their targets in real time. The tactic later extended more than 300 kilometers (185 mi) along the right bank of the Dnipro River across Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
The United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says the attacks leave little doubt about their intent. In an October report, the commission said the attacks had repeatedly killed and wounded civilians, destroyed homes and forced thousands to flee, concluding that they amounted to crimes against humanity of murder and forced transfer.
“We live with the hope that one day this will finally end,” Horlova said, her voice shaking. “What matters to us is a ceasefire or the front line being pushed further. Then it would be easier for us.”
Hunting down the survivors
Horlova lives in Komyshany, a village just outside Kherson and only 4 kilometers (2½ miles) from the Dnipro River, where the level of intense attacks has remained the same despite Ukrainian forces retaking the city from Russian occupation in November 2022 – some nine months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24 that year.
But the war did not end there. Instead, it has moved into a phase where the area has effectively become what locals and the military call a “human safari,” describing it as a testing ground where people are often the target of drone strikes.
Horlova says FPVs often land on rooftops when their batteries die and then wait.
“When people, cars or even a cyclist appear, the drone suddenly rises and drops the explosive,” she said. “It’s gotten to the point where they’re actually throwing it at the animals — cows, goats.”
She believes civilians are being hunted as “revenge” for the celebrations that broke out when Kherson was liberated.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry report on Ukraine says the attacks have spread terror among civilians and violated their right to life and other basic human rights. Investigators found that Russian units on the occupied left bank of the Dnieper carried out the strikes and identified certain drone units, operators and commanders involved. They also noted that Russian Telegram channels routinely share videos of the attacks, often with mocking captions and threats of more.
The UN commission said it had examined Russia’s claims that Ukrainian forces had launched drone attacks on civilians in occupied areas, unable to complete its investigation because it had no access to the territory, could not ensure the safety of witnesses and did not receive responses from Russian authorities.
Invisible dome
Intercepts obtained by the Associated Press from the 310th Marine Electronic Warfare Separate Battalion show Russian FPV drones that appear to be hunting vehicles. The videos show drones flying low over roads and locking onto moving or parked cars – often vans, supply vehicles, sedans and even clearly marked ambulances – before diving down for a 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 into the city every day. In October alone, the number of drones that flew over Kherson was 9,000.
“This area is like a training ground,” said battalion commander Dmytro Liashok, a 16-year military veteran and one of Ukraine’s early pioneers in electronic warfare. “They bring new Russian crews here to gain experience before sending them elsewhere.” The AP could not independently verify the claim.
Despite the high volume of drones — a figure that excludes other types of weapons such as artillery and drones — his forces manage to neutralize more than 90 percent, he said.
According to the UN human rights office, short-range drone attacks have become the leading cause of civilian casualties near the front line. Local authorities say that since July 2024, more than 200 civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 injured in three southern regions, most of the victims being men. Almost 3,000 houses were damaged or destroyed.
During a surprise visit to Kherson in November, Angelina Jolie described the constant threat of the head as “a heavy presence”.
“There was one time we had to stop and wait while a drone flew overhead,” she wrote on Instagram. “I was in protective gear and for me it was only a few days. Families here live with it every day.”
The human hunt
At one of the main Kherson hospitals treating drone victims, 70-year-old Nataliia Naumova is recovering after a hit by a Shahed drone, which carries a heavier explosive than FPV drones, injured her left leg on October 20.
She says the strike took place during the night while she was waiting at a school in the village of Inzhenerne, where she had been temporarily sheltered, for an evacuation bus that was due to arrive the next morning.
“There were so many drones flying over us,” she said, adding that she rarely left her home, even after her windows and boards were broken. “The people there are surviving, not living. I never thought such a tragedy would happen to me.”
Dr. Yevhen Haran, the hospital’s deputy chief medical officer, says injuries from drone strikes range from amputations to fatal injuries.
“It’s just manhunt. There’s no other name for it,” he said.
He says patients injured in Russian attacks, including drone strikes, arrive at the hospital every day. Last month alone, it treated 85 inpatients and 105 outpatients with blast injuries, all from shell and drone strikes. It is also the only hospital in the area equipped to handle the most serious cases.
Haran himself was attacked by FPV drones on August 26 while driving near Mykolaiv with his wife. The rescuers stopped their car on the highway, warning that there was a drone overhead.
“I pulled up behind them. The drone circled and on the next pass it flew straight into their vehicle – the driver’s door,” he recalled. Shrapnel tore through the car in front, while his parked behind protected it.
He arrived at the hospital with a hypertensive crisis and was later treated for a concussion. “Sometimes I’m still at a loss for words and I feel unsure,” he said. “It all happened in less than 10 minutes.”
For the people of Kherson, the experience of the occupation and the moment the city was liberated still shapes how they endure the constant drone attacks.
“We resisted until liberation – we will resist until peace,” he said.