Civilians in Kherson Pray for Rain as Drone Strikes Surge

Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 22 (Alliance News): In Kherson, southern Ukraine, civilians are beginning to wish for heavy rain—the only weather that can prevent Russian drones from flying overhead.

Since fall began, drone attacks on residents have sharply increased, with reports of strikes hitting pedestrians, vehicles, buses, and even ambulances.

Local officials have indicated that drones are increasingly targeting civilians, with elderly individuals and children among those injured.

Last week, a 76-year-old woman was seriously injured when her car was struck in a residential area of central Kherson. In another incident in the suburb of Antonivka, a 69-year-old woman was killed when a drone dropped explosives on a public bus.

Authorities report at least 14 fatalities from drone attacks since the beginning of September, with 222 adults and three children injured.

“They don’t care who they shoot at. Grandma, grandpa, it doesn’t matter. Man, woman, it doesn’t matter,” said Tetyana Yakovleva, 47, a factory worker and humanitarian volunteer from Antonivka.

The street leading to her area has been dubbed “the road of death” due to its proximity to Russian forces and its history as a conflict zone.

Kherson is the largest Ukrainian city on the front line and was the first major city to fall under Russian occupation in early March 2022, remaining under enemy control until its liberation eight months later.

Parts of the city were also flooded in June last year when the Nova Kakhovka dam was destroyed, and today, the threat of occupation looms just across the river, where Russian military positions are visible.

Yakovleva, who remained in her village during the occupation, has suffered injuries multiple times since the war began, including from shrapnel.

Most recently, a drone targeted a shelter where she was volunteering to provide humanitarian aid. “The drone hovered over us for a long time, then dropped a grenade next to the door,” she recounted. “We were all shell-shocked.”

“It’s really scary… We look at the sky before we go out, ensuring there’s no buzzing,” she added. “Bad weather now feels like luck for us.”

Two Ukrainian Armed Forces sources in the Kherson region indicated that there is no military rationale behind the drone strikes. “It’s just to terrorize the locals,” one source stated.

In September alone, Russia launched over 2,700 drone attacks in the area, with an additional 1,500 reported by October 17, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson region’s military administration.