A new Human Rights Watch report details how Russian forces have systematically used drones to target civilians in Kherson, violating international humanitarian law. The report documents at least 45 deliberate drone attacks between June and December 2024, resulting in nearly 500 civilian injuries and 30 fatalities.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 36 survivors and witnesses of these attacks and analyzed 83 videos uploaded to Russian military-affiliated Telegram channels. The footage confirms that Russian drone operators use high-resolution video feeds to track their targets, leaving little doubt that their intent is to kill, maim, and terrify civilians.
The report documents at least 45 deliberate drone attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities and essential services in Kherson’s Antonivka and Dniprovskyi neighborhoods. These attacks have led to widespread fear, causing many residents to avoid leaving their homes and contributing to depopulation in the targeted areas.
Valeriy Sukhenko and Anastasia Rusol, a married couple, suffered injuries after a drone attack on their home on Nov. 17. “Sukhenko said he was suffering from nightmares. Rusol said, ‘I start doing something and then I just stop. I am disoriented and lost,’” the report states.
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Anastasia Pavlenko, a 23-year-old mother of two, who worked at a coffee shop in Kherson, recalled a drone attack. Pavlenko said she was cycling when it happened. “Suddenly, I saw a drone take off from a roof and start to chase me,” she explained.
The drone followed Pavlenko for nearly 300 meters, according to the report. Then, “the drone dropped a grenade,” she told HRW, and left her with injuries on her neck, left leg, and beneath her ribs. When she regained her wits, she “was still biking, covered in blood and with flat tires.”
The Kherson City Council Executive Committee has said that drone attacks injured nearly 500 civilians and killed 30 between May and December 2024. In January 2025, drone strikes accounted for 70% of civilian casualties recorded in Kherson by the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
These attacks appear to be deliberate or reckless, constituting war crimes aimed at instilling terror in the civilian population, according to the report. Human Rights Watch called for urgent action to enforce respect for international humanitarian law and hold perpetrators accountable.
The drones these strikes deploy are mostly commercially available quadcopters that Chinese companies, including DJI and Autel, have manufactured, as well as the Russian Sudoplatov model.
The use of commercially available drones to conduct such attacks raises questions about the future of conflict.
Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb attack used drones to target Russian strategic bombers across multiple air bases, including locations deep inside Russia. The operation involved smuggling 117 drones into Russia inside wooden cabins mounted on trucks. These drones were remotely launched near air bases, catching Russian forces off guard.
