Drone attacks on civilians suggest new Russian terror tactics in Ukraine

One day, just before noon, iron merchant Serhiy Dobrovolsky returned to his home in Kherson in southern Ukraine. He went into the yard, lit a cigarette and talked to the neighbor. Suddenly they heard the sound of a drone flying overhead.

Angela, Serhiy’s wife of 32 years, claims she saw her husband run and hide when the drone dropped the grenade. “He died before the ambulance arrived. I was told that he was very unlucky because a piece of shrapnel pierced his heart,” she says, devastated.

Serhiy is one of 30 civilians killed in a sudden wave of Russian drone attacks in Kherson since July 1, the city’s military administration told the BBC. During the same period, they recorded over 5,000 drone attacks that injured over 400 civilians.

Drones have changed the way war is fought in Ukraine, as both Ukraine and Russia use them against military targets.

However, the BBC has heard eyewitness testimony and seen credible evidence suggesting that Russia is also using drones against civilians in the frontline city of Kherson.

“They see who they are killing,” Angela says. “Is this how they want to fight, just bombing people walking on the streets?”

If Russia is found to be deliberately attacking civilians, it would be a war crime.

The Russian military did not respond to BBC questions about the allegations. Since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia has consistently denied that it deliberately attacked civilians.