In Ukraine’s battered front-line city of Kherson, civilians are increasingly living underground as Russia’s drone attacks escalate in frequency and brutality, with local officials and international observers calling the assaults deliberate targeting of noncombatants, The Hill reported.
The city of Kherson has become a tormenting case study of modern warfare as Russian drone attacks turn daily life into a deadly gamble. Now forced underground, essential services in the city are operating from bombproof basements to shield residents from nearly constant bombardment.
“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.”
Kherson’s new city plan includes relocating hospitals, schools, and government offices underground. Nine hospitals have already moved, with plans for 12 more.
The United Nations released a report Wednesday condemning the drone strikes as crimes against humanity. According to the commission, drone attacks have killed nearly 150 civilians and injured hundreds more across 17 localities in Ukrainian-controlled areas along the Dnieper River.
Ukrainian forces liberated part of the Kherson region in November 2022, but the front line has since frozen in place. The threat from Russian forces just across the river remains constant. Prokudin said Russian troops outnumber Ukrainian defenders three to one in the region but cannot retake lost ground.
“But still, we don’t have the manpower and ability to kick them off from our territory,” he said.
Asked about President Donald Trump’s push for a ceasefire, Prokudin said any pause must be used to prepare for renewed fighting. “If it happens, we prepare to [for] war,” he said in English.
Kherson’s population has dropped from 500,000 to roughly 150,000. Many who remain are elderly. Some, like 23-year-old Victoria Maryshchuk, are part of the city’s rebuilding efforts.
Maryshchuk, who works in the city’s military administration, lived under Russian occupation for nine months. She has moved five times due to shelling but refuses to leave. “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.”
Maryshchuk recalled how she and her family hid during Russia’s 2022 referendum. “We knew their referendum was illegal, and we believed that Ukraine would liberate us anyway — so we simply waited.”
American journalist Zarina Zabrisky has been documenting the drone attacks, splitting her time between the United States and Kherson. “The people are unbelievable; they are very down to earth,” she said. “If they like you or love you, they suffocate you in an embrace.”
With thousands of weekly drone strikes reported and defense systems struggling to adjust, Kherson remains a city under siege — not only by weapons but by fear itself.
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