Ukraine accuses Russia of war crime after video shows drone hunting market vendor

Aug 4 - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Tuesday accused Russia of committing a war crime after a video was released showing a drone chasing down and wounding a street vendor in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.

Footage released by Ukrainian police shows the drone pursuing an unidentified man around a van being used as a street stand before exploding after he dives for cover behind the vehicle. Police said the vendor, a man in his 50s, survived but suffered shock and shrapnel injuries.

Reuters verified the location using buildings, the road layout and vegetation that matched satellite and archive imagery. The exact date could not be independently confirmed, but Ukrainian police and Sybiha said the incident occurred on Tuesday.

In a post on Telegram, Sybiha said the attack formed part of a deliberate Russian campaign to intimidate civilians. "This barbaric Russian war crime in Kherson demands international condemnation and justice, but thousands of similar crimes never come to the public eye," he said.

The minister said the pilot of the Russian drone would have been aware they were targeting a civilian, branding them a "sadist".

Sybiha called for "a powerful defence and deterrence package for Ukraine, and reliable, guaranteed security."

Two children and an elderly woman were also killed in overnight Russian guided bomb strikes on Ukraine's northern city of Sumy, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said on Telegram.

In July, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said it had documented 1,396 civilian deaths and 7,978 injuries in the first six months of 2026, marking a 37% increase from 2025 and more than double the figures from 2024.

It said that the surge in civilian casualties was primarily driven by intensifying Russian long-range missile and drone strikes targeting urban centres far beyond the front lines.

Ukraine is also attacking Russia with drones and long-range missiles, many of which have also caused civilian casualties, Russian authorities say.

Russia on Monday accused Ukraine of terrorism after seven people, including three children, were killed and 60 injured at its Black Sea holiday resort of Gelendzhik in what it said was a deliberate Ukrainian drone attack on civilians.

Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. REUTERS