The viral video of the fruit vendor Yuri fleeing from a Russian drone unfortunately shows a daily and routine practice for the armed forces of the Vladimir Putin regime: the daily harassment and murder of Ukrainian civilians using short-range drones or FPV (first-person view), especially in the city of Jersón, but also common in other fronts like Donbás, Zaporiyia, and Kharkiv.
In the video, a quadcopter drone approaches his fruit stand and begins to chase the vendor, who first gestures to show his business to the operator and make it clear that he is not a soldier, and then tries to flee when the unmanned aircraft starts moving towards him. The audio captures the terrifying whistling sound of the drone, a sound that usually paralyzes its victims as if it were a live predator. Finally, the Russian pilot maneuvers to hunt him down, although he does not achieve a direct hit and manages to wound him in the legs.
This is the latest chapter of what the Russians themselves dubbed as "human safaris" in their Telegram groups, where they daily post videos mocking the Ukrainian civilians they kill with total impunity. These images, which are in themselves clear evidence of war crimes, are often accompanied by mocking and festive comments and emojis from the users of these channels.
"Russia does not attack civilians," is the cynical statement that the Putin regime often uses as a Swiss army knife in the face of repeated missile attacks on Kyiv, guided bombs to Kharkiv, or long-distance drones to Lviv. In the case of "human safaris," they themselves record the evidence and publish it.
Jersón was the only capital of a region that the Russians managed to conquer in their invasion during the early days of the war, but they lost it months later in one of Ukraine's counteroffensives. To the misfortune of its inhabitants, the city is located a few kilometers from the Russian positions on the other side of the Dnipro River, which has led to bombardment and harassment by the occupiers for four years now, during which the neighborhoods are semi-destroyed and there is barely any population in the streets and shelters.
Ukrainian researchers and organizations like Frontelligence Insight have analyzed attack patterns in Jersón and concluded that the area exhibits characteristics that make it useful as a training ground. The FPV attacks in Jersón show significantly less precision than in other frontline areas, suggesting novice or less experienced operators training with attacks on civilians. The Russian bank of the Dnipro River offers a secure position from which to launch drones against targets on the Ukrainian shore with minimal risk to the operator. Their attack patterns include prolonged pursuits and piloting errors not seen in veteran operators deployed in other frontline areas.
These drones often hover over burning buildings waiting for firefighters to arrive to also kill them. It is a strategy of terror, but also of punishment and revenge against the Ukrainian civilian population for rebelling against the violent Russian occupation. These practices are well-documented. Witold Stupnicki, senior analyst for Europe and Central Asia at ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project), visited the Ukrainian city of Nikopol a few months ago, which also faces Russian drone attacks from the other side of the Dnipro River. "What we are seeing in the Nikopol district is the human safari tactic reaching a new level of lethality. These attacks are part of the systematic Russian tactics of deliberately using FPV drones to locate and attack civilians. Drone units trained to attack military supply routes behind enemy lines are instead being used against buses, markets, and ambulances."
Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, states that "short-range drones now represent one of the deadliest threats to civilians in frontline areas. In January 2025, these devices killed and injured more civilians than any other weapon, hitting people in their cars, on buses, and on the streets."
These attacks have contributed to the continuous increase in civilian deaths. 2025 was the deadliest year for Ukrainians since the start of the large-scale invasion. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (HRMMU) verified 2,514 civilians killed and 12,142 injured during 2025, representing a 31% increase compared to 2024 (2,088 killed; 9,138 injured) and a 70% increase compared to 2023 (1,974 killed; 6,651 injured). The trend continues in 2026.
Zaporiyia is another capital city suffering from these Russian practices from the southern part of the city. From there, Russian FPV drones attack groups of civilians, vehicles, and public transportation. On the worst days, several times a month, this can result in up to 10 drones causing civilian deaths and injuries with their attacks on urban buses.