In Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, Russia spreads fear with ‘safari’ strikes on civilians

When two Russian bombs hit Kateryna Lahuta’s seafood business in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia last month, they shattered the last semblance of security for the 41-year-old entrepreneur. Since the first weeks of their 2022 invasion, Moscow’s forces have been dug in just south of Zaporizhzhia, a key manufacturing city of around 700,000 people, hammering it with missiles and drones. But a new wave of attacks has made life deadlier for residents, part of Russia’s escalating air war on Ukrainian cities as it makes only grinding progress on the front lines. “Even half a year ago it was still scary, of course, and there were strikes. But it wasn’t like this,” said Lahuta. “Now it’s just a ‘safari’.” Ukrainians have adopted the term ‘safari’ to describe drones ‘hunting down’ civilians or vehicles in the street — a reality brought into sharp relief in a video released by Ukraine this week showing a drone chasing ‌down and wounding a vegetable seller in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson. Reuters reporters visiting Lahuta’s business had to seek cover after hearing the buzzing sound of a first-person-view (FPV) drone — the small, agile helicopter drones loaded with explosives and piloted by video that have made Ukraine’s front lines a “kill zone”. ATTACKS AIMED AT SCARING THE PUBLIC Russia has denied targeting civilians in the war, which began with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But, standing amid the charred remnants of the processing facility that supplied her stores, Lahuta said Russian attacks had driven away customers and made long-term planning near-impossible, while the need for soldiers meant labour was in short supply. “Every day is like some kind of battle.” Officials say Russia is seeking to sow panic as well as damage infrastructure with more frequent strikes across the city. Apart from using FPVs for the first time, it is also sending larger, more destructive glide bombs with new regularity. Zaporizhzhia is the capital of one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia has claimed as its own, despite controlling only three-quarters of it. Russian ground troops have failed to advance along a narrow corridor south of the city, where Ukraine’s military has put up stiff resistance in recent months. But from there, Russian FPV drones are attacking groups of civilians, vehicles and public transport, particularly in the city’s south, said governor Ivan Fedorov. Workers install anti-drone nets above a street, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in a southern neighborhood of Zaporizhzhia “The enemy is making it a priority to create maximum pressure on the civilian population,” he said during an interview in an underground school built to function as a bomb shelter. FPV drones have been developed to extend their range, while air-launched glide bombs like the ones that struck Lahuta’s business cannot be intercepted without more advanced air defences. Russia’s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. More than 16,000 civilians have been killed in nearly four-and-a-half years of fighting, according to the United Nations, the overwhelming majority of them Ukrainian. KILLER DRONES TARGET ZAPORIZHZHIA’S BUSES Across central Zaporizhzhia, cafes and streams of commuters lend a sense of normality despite frequent air-raid alerts. Yet even on Friday evenings, the city feels subdued. In the neighbourhood of engine-building giant Motor Sich, many office and residential buildings bear the scars of repeated bombardment. In the southern Kosmos district, roads are receiving a canopy of drone netting to protect against the FPV drones that have hit vehicle windshields and roofs in recent weeks. Two private bus drivers on a route that serves Kosmos said an increase in attacks had frightened drivers and passengers. Drone netting “won’t save you from the big ones”, said one of the drivers, who declined to give his name. Overall, fewer than 5% of enemy FPV drones get through Ukrainian air defences, Fedorov said. But on the worst days, around several per month, that might still mean up to 10 drones causing injury or damage. The city transit authority has begun experimenting with giving bus drivers drone monitors, and is testing out new shatterproof glass, said director Volodymyr Sukhachov. Twelve city-run buses or tramcars have been damaged by FPVs or blasts from larger munitions this year, but there are no plans to reduce services, he said. Ania Syvova, a 34-year-old seamstress with a husband fighting in the war, saw an FPV drone slam into a nearby bus last month as she was returning home to the south of the city. “Maybe I have a good guardian angel,” she said with a smile. RESIDENTS LEARN TO LIVE WITH DANGER Syvova, who sends her 6-year-old daughter to an underground kindergarten, said she and her child have learned to adapt to the dangers of daily life. “It sounds awful, but we’ve got used to this life,” she said. “For now, unfortunately, we don’t have another one.” Russia is employing similar tactics in other frontline cities such as Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine, where FPV drone attacks have become “one of the main instruments of terror”, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Sunday. He said 45 strikes had been registered last month. Fedorov said Russia has also been attacking Zaporizhzhia four to six times per day with glide bombs, which he described as flying unpredictably. On Sunday, one person was killed and 31 were wounded when Russia dropped eight bombs on residential areas within an hour and a half, he told Ukrainian television. Recent attacks have taken place around noon and early evening, in what residents described as a chilling new routine. Outside her ravaged apartment building, Tetiana, a 38-year-old government employee, said Russian forces “got crazy” last month and bombed her neighbourhood six times within a week. She said she was torn between wanting to leave and stay, because people relied on her work to keep services going. “Honestly, I’m already totally empty,” she said, glancing toward the charred shells of cars littered across her courtyard. “No emotions.”