This is the moment a Russian drone hunts down a greengrocer through the streets of Ukraine as he flees for his life – and survives.
Volodymyr Zelensky shared the clip on social media from his nation’s Kherson region, labelling the incident as a Russian “safari” attack targeting ordinary people.
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The footage captures a street vendor attempting to flee as the remotely operated drone pursues him around a white van on a city street.
The device eventually dives towards the man and detonates upon hitting him.
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A doctor confirmed the victim survived but sustained several shrapnel injuries, concussion and trauma.
Such attacks, known as “human safaris”, have been regularly employed by Russian forces to terrorise civilians living near front line areas in Ukraine.
“The world must see this,” Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
“It must see every piece of evidence that Russia has gone mad, and every fact that Russian soldiers are enjoying killings and tormenting people.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the footage a “barbaric war crime”.
The safaris were a “deliberate and systemic Russian strategy,” Sybiha said. “The sadist operating this drone knows full well that he is targeting a civilian.”
Sybiha said the strike was part of a wider effort by Vladimir Putin’s men to frighten ordinary Ukrainians and called on the international community to condemn it.
Kherson’s regional governor subsequently released a video of the victim speaking from his hospital bed.
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The man was identified as Yuriy, a 52-year-old who sells vegetables on the street.
He recounted that he and his wife had been setting out crates of produce beside his van when he noticed a buzzing noise above them.
After his wife fled, the drone turned its attention to him.
He lifted heads of garlic towards the drone’s camera to demonstrate he was merely a vendor, not someone filming.
“It could see that I had tomatoes out, some cucumbers and aubergines laid out on the floor,” Yuriy said. “It even ducked under the umbrella when I was running away round the other side.”
Russian troops have conducted “safari” strikes in Kherson for some time, with the city situated just a few miles from the front line.
A 2025 UN report found that Russian armed forces had “recurrently killed and injured civilians” in the region through drone attacks.
“Posting videos of civilians being killed and injured amounts to the war crime of outrages upon personal dignity,” the UN said.
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