‘They dive on everything they see’

• Wessel de Jong

  reporter in Ukraine

The Russian military has unilaterally declared most of Ukraine’s southern regional capital, Kherson, a military zone. Within that zone, everyone is a target.

An elderly woman stands at a bus stop on Mykhail Hrushevsky Street, opposite Kherson’s main market. She just went shopping. “Now I’m going home and waiting for the bus. I’m terrible, but I have to.” When asked if she is afraid of drones, she says: “Of course, who isn’t afraid of them?”

Russian drones ruthlessly hunt down pedestrians, cyclists and passenger cars. That hunt began in July, and since then the residents have been banned. But the Gentiles who remained defeated will not go away. Around 70,000 people still live in the city. Three quarters of the population has left, because before the war there were nearly 290,000.

Another woman, who usually works in an ambulance, says rudely: “We are always bombed. Now they are attacking us with drones. That’s how it goes here all the time. They bomb ordinary citizens’ cars here. What kind of life do we have?”

The Russian drones mainly target places where many people gather, such as bus stops. There are about twenty people at the market stop. Since it is located on the edge of the city, fewer drones come here. In principle, because not all drone pilots adhere to the red zone. That is why many people find it dangerous to go out on the street.

And that’s understandable, since the number of random drone attacks has increased rapidly since July. In September, 2,700 were recorded, resulting in 147 injuries and six deaths.

Attacking the wave is another test for Kherson. In 2022, the Russians lived in the city for several months. They were cruel to the people. Many people were tortured or beaten in the streets.

The liberation by the Ukrainian government army was followed by the artillery shelling and flooding as the Russians entered the Dnipro River. had blown up the Kakhovka dam. Now the Russian drones are out to cause casualties.

A teenager stands alone with white headphones on, swaying softly to her music. Kira is 17 and studying to be a dental assistant. “Every day I go to work and every day they fly, the drones,” she says.

Kira was also targeted. “One time I was walking to work and a drone was flying over me. Then I started crying, to be honest. I just stood there, I didn’t move. I didn’t know what was going on ‘ going to happen, I just froze. But, thank you, it went on.” Kira laughs softly.

Yevhen Levanchenko was not so lucky. He works for the city of Kherson and recently had to repair a roof. The municipal worker rolls up his trouser legs to reveal his injuries. His legs are covered in shrapnel wounds.

“My feet still hurt. My ear is blocked and ringing. I have trouble hearing on my left side.” Because of Jevhen’s injury, his wife returned to Kherson to take care of him. She fled to Odesa. Jevhen continued: “Someone has to do this job. I was born here.”

The attack on the roofs does not surprise his boss, Maksim Kurchyk. “They don’t look for military targets at all. They dive on everything they see.” Their goal is clear to him: “To instill fear, so that people leave the city. People are also leaving, but not many of them. There are parts of the city where you cannot to go further. streets.”

A large canopy was built on the site of the village. Men have lunch here, out of sight of the drones. There is also an air raid shelter with a strong door. Kurchyk had to flee into a building from a drone. “You have to close the door properly, because they can fly in.”

The city council is doing all sorts of things against drones. There are warning signs in the city and anti-drone teams are on the road with special anti-aircraft defenses.

The radio waves are also disrupted, making the drones uncontrollable. But that is becoming increasingly difficult; there is a permanent battle for frequency. “At first it was calm with strong winds or clouds, but now they always fly, rain or shine,” says Kurchyk.