Ten Russian servicemen of the 404th Motor Rifle Regiment of the Dnipro grouping of the Russian Armed Forces have been identified as involved in drone strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure on the right bank of the Kherson region. Under the procedural guidance of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office, they have been notified in absentia that they are suspected of violating the laws and customs of war.
According to the investigation, throughout 2025 these servicemen regularly carried out attacks from the temporarily occupied left bank of the region. They used various types of short-range drones – from standard ones with mechanisms for dropping munitions to fibre-optic FPV kamikaze drones. The drones were fitted with high-explosive fragmentation warheads and special munitions designed to inflict maximum casualties.
Through built-in video cameras, the operators saw their victims in real time. Deliberate strikes were recorded on passers-by on Kherson’s main street, on a man walking his dogs, as well as on rescuers working at the sites of previous shelling. They also specifically “hunted” medics, striking Kherson City Hospital and ambulances.
Victims of these attacks sustained severe burns, barotrauma, fractures and shrapnel wounds, some cases proving fatal. The Russian side used video recordings of the killings in propaganda clips as alleged “training” of Russian troops on Ukrainian civilians before employing such methods on the battlefield.
In total, since the start of the full-scale invasion, more than 300 civilians have been killed in the Kherson region as a result of Russian drone attacks, including three children. Almost 3,000 civilians have been injured, among them 47 children. The Prosecutor’s Office stresses that Russia’s drone terror against Ukraine’s civilian population continues, and that every person involved in these crimes will be identified and brought to justice.