Europe | Death from above

Russian trainee pilots appear to be hunting Ukrainian civilians

Residents of Kherson are dodging murderous drones

The Russian Army Attacked Kherson With Guided Bombs
Photograph: Getty Images
|KHERSON

KHERSON, A REGIONAL capital in southern Ukraine, endured eight months of Russian occupation before Ukrainian forces liberated it in November 2022. The Russians retreated to the other side of the Dnipro river, but have indiscriminately shelled the city ever since. In June 2023 they blew up the nearby Kakhovka dam, flooding low-lying areas of Kherson. Now the city’s 80,000 inhabitants, down from a prewar population of 280,000, face a new sort of misery. For six months Russian drones have been attacking civilians daily, chasing cars and pedestrians through the streets in what locals call a “safari”.

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