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Videos published to Russian military-affiliated Telegram channels and analyzed by Human Rights Watch researchers. Some videos were blurred due to graphic scenes.
Nataliia’s family store in Antonivka closed after the attack that killed Petro and has remained closed ever since. It was one of only two remaining grocery stores in the area. “Previously,” Nataliia said “there were four or five functioning grocery shops. Ours closed when dad was gone and the last one [in Antonivka] closed a month ago. And now there is nothing.”
Residents who remain in Antonivka and in areas near the riverbank in Dniprovskyi must now, at great personal risk, travel several kilometers to get water and food. But not everyone is physically fit enough or has the risk tolerance to make the trip.
A volunteer organization distributes bread by van in Kherson. © 2025 World Aid Runners, Inc.
The Russian authorities have not stated the drone campaign’s objective in Kherson, but some residents told Human Rights Watch they believe its aim is to depopulate the area.
Regardless of the intent, this has been the clear effect.
The disruption of essential services, combined with the constant threat of drones above and landmines below, has forced many residents to move out of the riverbank areas.
The number of people living in the Antonivka district nearly halved between May and December 2024, to 2,300 from 4,570 residents, authorities said. Another authority estimated that 65 to 80 percent of those who remain are older people.
Human Rights Watch spoke to several residents who have been forced to leave their homes. Angelica, whose husband was killed in a drone attack, had to leave her apartment in Antonivka in December after another drone attack on a vehicle outside her building shattered her apartment windows.
“It was impossible to live there,” she said. “There is no communication, no heating, and emergency services cannot reach you. So, I had to leave for civilization.”
Just two days before the attack that killed her father, Nataliia had pleaded with her parents to close the store. Petro loved his country, she recalls, and he loved Kherson. “He could have left [the country] with mom and gone abroad, his age allowed him to do so,” she said.
Yet, he told her, “‘This is mine; I can’t leave it.’”
Two weeks after the fatal attack, Nataliia went to retrieve Petro’s minivan, which still sat near the roundabout. She asked for help from volunteers working in the city; few were willing to take this risk.
Rain began pouring down as they moved the vehicle, its windshield still stained with her father’s blood.
“It felt like a sign from my dad,” Nataliia said, “protecting us from the drones.”
A Warning for the Future
The stories of Petro, Tetiana, Serhii, Viktoria, Olha, Volodymyr, Valeriy, Anastasia, and other residents of Kherson depict a unique campaign of terror. Additionally, Russia’s assault on Kherson since mid-2024 represents a seismic shift in the way that relatively inexpensive, commercially available drones, adapted to deliver explosive weapons, can be used in large numbers to target, hunt, kill, and injure civilians in large urban centers – making life so unbearable that those who are able feel that they must flee.
The implications of this kind of abusive military campaign, that can ruthlessly and accurately target civilians and civilian property, are far-reaching and global. To minimize harm to civilians and to help prevent these tactics from being repeated by abusive warring parties in other conflict zones around the world, commercial drone companies, states, and international bodies should work together to identify how to improve protection for civilians against the unlawful use of drones in warfare, including through prosecutions for use that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Read our full report here.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the individuals who made this research possible by sharing their experiences with us despite the trauma they and their communities were experiencing at the time of the interviews as they lived under the constant fear of drone attacks.
Research and writing at Human Rights Watch by Robin Taylor, Belkis Wille, Kseniya Kvitka, and Ekin Ürgen. Arms program staff members contributed research and writing support.
Art direction and development by Laura Navarro with support from Ivana Vasic, Travis Carr, and Maggie Svoboda.
Web development by Christina Rutherford with support from Michael Moritz.
Drone models by Martyna Marciniak.
Reviewed by Ida Sawyer, Anagha Neelakantan, Tom Porteous, Aisling Reidy, Sam Dubberley, Sophia Jones, Julia Bleckner, Yulia Gorbunova, Rachel Denber, and Tanya Lokshina.
Prepared for publication by Nīa Knighton.
Edited by Amy Braunschweiger.
We would like to extend a special thanks to Alexei Sandakov and Bogdan Timura for assisting us in identifying the people we interviewed, coordinating with them, and translating their stories.
Published on June 3, 2025.
