Verify evidence of drone strikes in Kherson authenticated by BBC – some are too graphic to display
One day, just before noon, Serhiy Dobrovolsky, a hardware trader, returned to his home in Kherson in southern Ukraine. He entered his yard, lit a cigarette, and conversed with his neighbor. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a drone buzzing overhead.
Angela, Serhiy’s wife of 32 years, witnessed her husband taking cover as the drone released a grenade. “He passed away before the ambulance arrived. I was informed that he was very unlucky, as a piece of shrapnel pierced his heart,” she said, breaking down.
Serhiy is among the 30 civilians who lost their lives in a recent increase in Russian drone attacks in Kherson since July 1st, according to the city’s military administration as reported by the BBC. They have documented over 5,000 drone attacks during the same period, resulting in over 400 civilian injuries.
Drones have transformed warfare in Ukraine, with both Ukraine and Russia employing them against military targets.
However, the BBC has received eyewitness accounts and credible evidence indicating that Russia is also employing drones against civilians in the frontline city of Kherson.
“They can see who they are killing,” Angela remarked. “Is this how they wish to fight, by simply bombing civilians on the streets?”
If it is confirmed that Russia is intentionally targeting civilians, it would constitute a war crime.
The Russian military did not respond to the BBC’s inquiries regarding the accusations. Since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia has consistently denied deliberately targeting civilians.
BBC / Imogen Anderson
Angela witnessed a drone killing her husband outside their residence
Numerous videos on Ukrainian and Russian social media show apparent drone attacks on civilians, six of which were examined by BBC Verify.
In each video, we observe through the remote operator’s camera as they monitor the movements of pedestrians or motorists in civilian attire, often dropping grenades that seem to cause serious injuries or fatalities.
BBC Verify also identified a Telegram channel that contains the earliest publicly available copies of five of the six analyzed videos.
These videos were accompanied by taunts and threats to the Ukrainian populace, including assertions that all vehicles were legitimate targets and advising people to minimize their public movements. The injured individuals were also insulted, referred to as “pigs,” or in one instance, ridiculed for being a woman.
The account that posted some of these drone videos also shared images of packaged and unpackaged drones, as well as other equipment, expressing gratitude for donations.
Kherson’s military administration informed the BBC that Russia has altered the type of drone being used, and the city’s electronic systems can no longer intercept a majority of them.
“You feel like you’re constantly being hunted, as if someone is always watching you and could drop explosives at any moment. It’s the worst feeling,” said Kristina Synia, who works at an aid center just 1km from the Dnipro river.
To reach the center without being tracked by drones, we drive at high speed, seek cover among trees while parking, and quickly enter the building.
A small device on a shelf behind Kristina confirms the threat outside – buzzing each time a drone is detected. It buzzed every few minutes during our visit, often indicating the presence of at least four drones.
The residents we meet display visible trauma on their faces, having ventured out of their homes only to purchase food. Valentyna Mykolaivna wipes her eyes, saying, “We are in a terrible situation. When we go out, we move from one tree to another, seeking cover. Every day, they attack public buses, dropping bombs on us using drones.”
Olena Kryvchun narrowly escaped a drone strike on her car. Just moments before she was about to return to her vehicle after visiting a friend, a bomb fell through the roof above the driver’s seat, tearing through one side of the vehicle and leaving it a twisted mass of metal, plastic, and glass.
BBC / Imogen Anderson
The interior of Olena Kryvchun’s car was devastated by an explosive from a drone
“If I had been in my car, I would have perished. Do I resemble a military personnel, does my car resemble a military vehicle?” she questioned. She works as a cleaner, and the car was crucial for her job. She lacks the funds to repair it.
Olena believes drones are more terrifying than shelling. “When we hear a shell being launched from the other side of the river, we have time to react. With drones, you can easily miss their sound. They are swift, they spot you, and then strike.”
Ben Dusing, who manages the aid center, claims that drones evoke even more fear than shelling, paralyzing the population. “If a drone locks onto you, it’s probably ‘game over’ at that point. There’s no defense against it,” he stated.
According to Oleksandr Prokudin, spokesperson for Kherson’s military administration, in recent months, the Russian military has begun using drones to remotely deploy mines along pedestrian, car, and bus routes.
He mentioned that butterfly mines – small, anti-personnel mines that can glide to the ground and detonate upon contact – have caused explosions. These mines are camouflaged with leaves to blend in.
The BBC has been unable to confirm the use of drones to distribute mines in Kherson.
Olena fears that as winter approaches, the threat of drones will intensify. “When the leaves fall from the trees, there will be many more victims. Because if you’re outside, there’s nowhere to seek shelter.”
How we authenticated the drone videos
By identifying distinctive features in the city streets, we located the six videos we analyzed, all filmed on the eastern side of Kherson. For example, in one case where a drone dropped an explosive on two pedestrians, injuring one severely, we identified a curve at a T-junction pointing to the Dniprovs’kyi district or the nearby suburb of Antonivka, rather than Kherson city center.
Once we pinpointed a potential location, we matched visible landmarks in the video to satellite images, such as buildings and pylons, confirming the location of the attack in the city.
To determine where the videos were initially posted, we analyzed several frames from each using search engines. Often, the earliest result was a specific Telegram channel, preceding reposts on platforms like X or Reddit by several hours.
With the location of each attack, we calculated the filming time using shadows and cross-referenced with weather records to ascertain the most likely date.
Four of the videos we examined were posted on the Telegram channel the day following the probable filming, with one instance posted eight hours later on the same day.
Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson, Anastasiia Levchenko, and Volodymyr Lozhko. Verification work by Richard Irvine-Brown