Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared a video purporting to show a civilian being chased and attacked by a Russian drone in the city of Kherson.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said the world “must see” the footage that he said shows Russia’s soldiers “take pleasure in killing and abusing civilians.”
The president said the drone, which carried explosives, hunted a man selling vegetables on the side of a road and detonated “right next to him.” The footage shows a drone hovering around the man in question as he attempts to evade it before it flies toward him and explodes.
Zelenskyy called the footage “yet another video of the drone ‘safari’ Russians are carrying out against civilians in Kherson.”
The man, who has been identified as Yurii, survived with shrapnel wounds to the torso, legs and arms as well as a concussion, according to a doctor interviewed in a video posted by the head of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin.
In the footage posted on social media by Prokudin, Yurii recounted trying to show the drone operators he was there to sell vegetables.
“I was showing it, saying, ‘Look, vegetables.’ But it started coming straight at me,” the man said. “I started running, it hit the vehicle and I was right next to it.”
Russian drone barrage kills at least 15
An overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital and the surrounding region killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens of others, authorities said Wednesday.
Kyiv’s military administration said the missile and drone barrage hit residential buildings and warehouses.
“Kyiv region experienced one of its most tragic enemy attacks yet again tonight,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration, wrote on Telegram.
“Russia has once again brought death and destruction to our land, taking the lives of civilians. Just accountability will certainly follow for every such crime.”