Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has raised the alarm over Russia’s escalating “human safari” tactics targeting the civilian population in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region. “The situation is especially difficult in Kherson, where the Russians are conducting a safari against people,” the Ukrainian leader stated on May 12 in his daily video address. “Defenses must be significantly strengthened with more interceptors, more electronic jamming systems, and more gun crews operating in the city.”
Zelenskyy’s comments underline the nightmarish reality of daily life in the Kherson region, which staddles the Dnipro River on the front lines of the war in southern Ukraine. The right bank of the Kherson region was liberated from Russian occupation in November 2022, but remains under near constant attack from Russian forces located across the river.
In recent years, Russia has launched a campaign of targeted drone strikes against the civilian population with the apparent intention of depopulating the Kherson region. Terrified locals refer to these relentless drone attacks as a “human safari.”
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