Russian Drone Hunts Ukrainian Vegetable Seller in Chilling Video

A Russian FPV drone chased a 52-year-old vegetable seller around his market van in southern Ukraine before exploding nearby, in footage released by Ukrainian authorities that officials call the latest example of deliberate "human safari" attacks on civilians.

The man, identified as Yurii (also reported as Yuriy), a resident of the Mykolaiv region, was setting up his stall with his wife in the Kherson area when the drone appeared overhead. Video from Ukrainian National Police shows him moving around his vehicle and holding up produce in an apparent effort to signal he was a civilian. The drone continued to pursue him before detonating near the vehicle.

Yurii suffered shrapnel wounds, a concussion, blast trauma and related injuries. He was hospitalized and is expected to survive. His wife escaped unharmed.

He gestured to the drone to show he was only selling vegetables, but to no avail.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared the video and described it as a deliberate hunt: "A Russian drone deliberately hunted down a man selling vegetables and detonated right next to him." Police and other officials labeled the incident a war crime targeting a non-combatant. Russia has not publicly commented on this specific case.

The attack fits a documented pattern of Russian forces using first-person-view drones to track and strike individual civilians in frontline areas such as Kherson, just across the Dnipro River from Russian-held positions. Locals and Ukrainian officials have long referred to the tactic as a "human safari." Operators with live camera feeds have targeted pedestrians, vendors, drivers, ambulances and first responders. Russian military channels have posted similar videos.

Human safari: Drones seeming to hunt humans for sport.

UN inquiries and groups including Human Rights Watch have reported these strikes as recurrent deliberate attacks on civilians, with some assessments describing them as war crimes or contributing to crimes against humanity aimed at terrorizing and depopulating areas. Ukrainian authorities have charged specific Russian operators and units in absentia.

Russian military units have offered cash bonuses for confirmed FPV strikes on Ukrainian military personnel (around 25,000 rubles per successful hit with video verification). Separately, research has noted Russian civilian fundraisers supplying drones used in operations, with some operators sharing attack footage online. Claims that the civilian-targeting serves partly as live training for drone operators have come from Ukrainian officials, including Zelenskyy.

The vegetable seller's case, verified across multiple reports including by the BBC, underscores the ongoing use of inexpensive FPV drones against non-combatants in the region.