Horror moment drone ‘hunts down’ vegetable seller in chilling ‘drone safari attack’ | World | News

This is the moment a drone seemingly hunts down a man at a market in Kherson, Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky shared on X footage, also released by Ukraine’s National Police, he said the world “must see”, in which an alleged Russian drone appears to pursue a Ukrainian street seller around his van before exploding.

The clip, shared on Tuesday, has prompted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha to accuse Russia of committing a war crime. Mr Sybiha wrote on X: “This barbaric Russian war crime in Kherson requires international condemnation and justice, yet thousands of similar crimes never reach the public eye”. In a post on messaging platform Telegram, the Ukrainian police wrote: “This is exactly how the Russians are fighting their war — they deliberately target civilians.” The message also said the man in the video “shows no signs of being a combatant, he is simply selling vegetables and fruit at the market.”

Russia has previously denied deliberately targeting civilians over the past four years of war, which was prompted by the illegal invasion of Ukraine ordered by Vladimir Putin in February 2022.

In the clip, which the Express could not independently verify, the 52-year-old vegetable seller can be seen circling around a white van while being seemingly pursued by the drone, which explodes after he dives for cover behind the vehicle.

The man survived the incident but sustained blast injuries, shrapnel wounds and a concussion, according to police.

Law enforcement authorities said they were working to document what they described as another war crime allegedly committed by Russian forces.

Speaking from hospital, the man claimed to have shown his vegetables to the drone to “prove he wasn’t a threat”, but the unmanned vehicle still “flew at him”.

Ukrainian President Zelensky claimed the footage was further evidence of what he called a Russian “drone safari”, targeting civilians in Kherson.

The Ukrainian leader said: “The world must see this. It must see every piece of evidence that Russia has gone mad and that its soldiers take pleasure in killing and abusing civilians.

“Without pressure on Russia, the dismantling of its capacity for aggression, and real security guarantees, it is simply impossible to imagine the world being able to coexist with this evil.

“We must remain resolute in defending life. We must act and support life in ways that force Russia to seriously think about peace rather than expanding the range of its drones.”

Similar incidents, seemingly showing a drone pursuing a civilian, have been reported in the past in Kherson.

A 2025 UN report said it had found Russian armed forces “recurrently killed and injured civilians” in the area by using drones to target them.